TELD, 


L?l..d.'a, 


^  PRINCETON,  N.  J.  *^^ 


_  \  _ 

Presented    h^j^\'QJ&\0^e,■<^r^^O^\ ar\ 


BS  2415  .M26  1888 
Mansfield,  L.  W.  b.  1816. 
The  outlines  of  the  mental 
plan 


THE  OUTLINES 


OF 


THE   MENTAL  PLAN, 

AND 

THE  PREPARATIOK  THEREIN 

FOB   THE 

Precepts  and  Doctrhstes  op  Christ. 

By  L.  W.  MANSFIELD. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
COVENANT  PUBLISHING  COMPANY 

(limited), 

No.  636  Arch  Stkeet, 

1882. 


Copyright,  1882, 
Br   LJSWIS    \V^.  MANSFIELD. 


TO 

LAURENS  P.  HICKOK,  D.D.,LL.D., 

IN    RECOGNITION    OF    THE    GREAT   WORK    WHICH    HK 

HAS  DONE  IN  ILLUSTRATING  THE  TRUE  METHODS 

OF  PROCEEDING  IN  SPECULATIVE  INQUIRIES, 

THIS  VOLUME  IS  GRATEFULLY  INSCRIBED. 


PREFACE. 


The  subject  presented  in  this  volume  has  been  a  pleasant 
study  to  me,  off  and  on,  for  many  years  past,  and  is  now 
prepared  in  this  condensed  form,  hoping  that  it  may  be  a 
help  to  students  in  Mental  and  Moral  Philosophy,  and  in 
Christian  ethics,  and  also  to  others  who  may  be  interested 
in  the  line  of  thought  here  taken  up.  In  order  to  be  of  use 
to  any  one,  it  must  be  taken  for  just  what  it  claims  to  be — a 
study  of  outlines  only,  not  an  exact,  precise,  systematized 
and  finished  treatise. 

It  is  a  search  for  the  plan  of  our  being,  in  the  conditions  of 
being.    Xo  more  and  no  less. 

But  in  the  Second  Part,  I  have  pointed  out  some  of  the 
particulars  in  which  the  mental  structure  is  seen  to  prepare 
the  way  for  the  Christian  structure,  and  demonstrating  that 
the  plan  of  our  being  is  completed  and  perfected  in  Christ. 

CoHOES,  N.  Y.,  March,  1882. 


COI^TEI^TS. 


INTRODUCTION— The  Creator  Bbfore  all  Things,         .  .       S 

PART  FIRST. 
THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  First  Conditions. 

1.  Immutability, '       .  •     11 

2.  Increase,        .,.....,,  16 

3.  Beginalng  at  tbe  lowest  plane,  .  .  •  .  .     19 

CHAPTER  II. 

The  Endowment. 
Some  of  the  Particulars. 

1.  Spirit,        '\     '''' ■  .      22 

2.  Power,        *^  .........  23 

3.  Self-activity, 23 

4.  Its  increase  from  without — outsltle  of  self,           ,           .          .  25 
6.  Where  shall  it  begin? .25 

6.  Can  it  begin  in  the  presence  of  the  Creator?       ...  27 

7.  The  Creator,  In  creating,  separates  it  from  Himself,        .  .      27 

8.  Protection  and  restriction  needed,    .....  29 
10.  This  restriction  must  be  by  some  non-spiritual  agency,  .      31 

CHAPTER  III. 

The    Impersonal. 

The  Party  of  the  Second  Part. 

1.  Its  content— force,      ........  37 

2.  Where  shall  it  have  place?        ......  38 

3.  Its  uses  and  purposes,  .......  40 

4.  Its  advantages  for  use,  In  not  being  spiritual,     ...  40 

5.  The  connection  of  the  personal  with  the  impersonal,       .  .  41 

6.  The  connection  must  be  compulsorj',  ....  41 

(Vii) 


via  CONTENTS. 

7.  Other  conditions  of  the  enclowment,      .  .  .        .  .  .44 

1.  Relationship,      ........  45 

2.  Likeness,       .........  46 

3.  Etei'nal  duration— The  conditions  for  that  which  Is  to  be 

eternal,       .........  48 

6.  The  formula  for  the  endowment,  so  far  as  found  at  this  advance,  60 

CHAPTER  IV. 

Thk  Conditions  in  thkir  Timb-ordbr. 

The  Mental  Plan  calls  for— 

1.  A.  cosmos  of  force  elements,  .  ,  .  ,  ,  .62 

2.  A  rational  endowment,    ...           .           ,           ,           .  52 

3.  Their  action  and  reaction— Spirit  and  force,  .  .  .63 

4.  A  bodily  organization,    .......  53 

6.  The  power  and  scope  prescribed  by  the  facts  and  laws,  .           ,  54 
€.  A  union  of  enclowment  and  organization,           ...  55 

7.  A  life  agency,    .........  56 

8.  No  antagonism  between  the  parties,            ....  56 

9.  A  communication  by  symbols,     ..,.,.  57 

CHAPTER  V. 
The  Mental  Struoturb. 

1.  The  receptive,  ......•<•  59 

2.  The  emotional, ,          .  61 

3.  The  retentive,  .........  61 

4.  The  constructive,   ........  65 

5.  The  intuitive, 66 

6.  The  judicial,            ........  73 

7.  The  executive,  .........  76 

CHAPTER   VI. 

Conclusion. 

Methods,  increase,  continuity,  etc.,            .                     ...  77 

Reasons  for  believing  that  what  is  received  must  be  carried,  .  82 
Reasons  for  believing  that  no  changes  will  ever  be  made  in  the 

powers  given,        .           .......  83 

The  formula  now  enlarged  and  completed,        .  .  .  .84 

The  powers  given  of  no  account  without  an  experience,          .  86 


CONTKNTS.  IX 

PART  SECOND. 
THE  CREATOR  IN  ALL  THINGS. 
The  Plan  of  Being  Perfected  in  Christ, 
chapter  i. 

Thb  Kndowment  Bbqinninq  in  an  Outward  and  Visible  Presenta- 
tion OF  Truth,  Precedks  and  Prepahes  the  Wat  rou  the 
Invisible,  and  for  all  the  Teachings  of  Christ. 
The  Ground-work  of  these  Teachings  found  in  the  Endowment,  and 
in  Its  Constructive  Methods,  and  in  its  Connec- 
tion with  Cosmical  Force. 

1.  Self-denial 9S 

2.  Co-operation,  .......  38 

3.  The  family  relation,  ........    102 

4.  Faith 104 

.=>.  The  privacy  of  prayer,         .  .  .  .  .  .  .105 

6.  Joy  and  peace,        ........  10C> 

7.  Suffering,            .........  108 

8.  Conflict,          .........  112 

9.  Means,      ..........  113 

10.  Prayer  and  Worship,      .......         115 

11.  Spiritual  Baptism,     ........    119 

12.  Symbols, .  .127 

CHAPTER  II. 

Particulars  in  which  the   Endowment   Contains  no  Preparation 

tor  Christ's  Teaching  except  the  Capacity  to  Change 

or  be  Changed  in  its  Governing  Purpose. 

1.  Forgiveness,      .........  130 

2.  Patience,  endurance,  longsuffering,            .           .           .           .  135 
X.  Obedience,          .........  136 

4.  The  New  Birth -  .        -  .  138 

.5.  Righteousness,             ........  139 

6.  Partakers  of  the  Divine  nature,        .....         140 

7.  Fellowship,        .........    141 

«.  The  Presence  of  God,       .  .  .  .  .  ....         142 

CHAPTER  III. 

Truth. 

The  Forms— Placing,  Presenting  and  Proving  in  Experience. 

1.  The  forms  of  truth,     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .146 

2.  The  Creator's  method  of  presenting  it— The  action  of  the  Holy 

Spirit  on  the  human  spirit,  ......    148 


CONTENTS. 


3.  Experience, 

4.  Life  and  death, 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Conclusion. 
The  Life  to  Come. 


1.  The  Kesurrection, 

2.  The  Judgment, 

3.  The  Future  State, 

i.  The  Spiritual  Body, 

5.  The  New  Song, 

6.  The  Incarnation, 

7.  The  United  Activities, 

8.  The  Christian's  lleward, 


153 
15» 


163 
164 
167 
168 
171 
175 
179 
181 


i:N^TRODUCTIO]Sr. 


THE  CREATOR  BEFORE   ALL   THINGS. 

He  who  creates  must  work  according  to  a  fixed  ideal,  com- 
plete in  all  its  parts  at  the  beginning. 

All  His  woiks  will  declare  that  they  are  not  self-created, 
but  derived,  and  will  also  point  to  their  Creator;  for — 

He  who  creates  must  so  far  put  His  own  power  and  pur- 
pose in  His  work,  that  it  will,  to  that  extent,  manifest 
Himself— and  tha:-  which  is  created,  whether  rational  or 
non-rational,  in  order  to  manife-t  itself  as  created  and  sepa- 
rate from  its  Creator,  must  appear  in  form,  and  stand  and 
act  in  its  own  fixed  laws,  and  according  to  its  own  fixed 
plan. 

The  fixed  laws  will  be  found  in  the  construction,  and  the 
fixed  plan  in  what  it  is  and  is  to  be. 

That  which  we  now  look  for  is  the  plan  of  rational  being. 
This  will  be  found  in  its  purpose,  and  conditional  for  that  we 
must  find  its  structure. 

I.  A  created  personality,  coming  from  a  spiritual  Creator, 
will  be  a  spiritual  personality,  and  its  construction  will  be 
from  spiritual  elements. 

As  one  of  the  properties  of  spiritual  being  is  power — and 
power  without  limits  until  placed  in  limits — these  elements 
Avill  demand  for  themselves  a  potency,  dignity  and  possible 
glory  in  the  God-created  endowment,  so  great  as  to  be  mostly 
unknown  and  mconceivable  to  itself  in  its  first  experience. 

The  proof  that  the  rational  endowment  will  be  so  created 
may  be  inferred  from  the  piwer  and  holiness  and  unimagin- 
able greatness  of  the  Creator,  who — if  He  creates  a  person- 
ality that  will  have  the  right  and  privilege  of  communicating 


4  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

with  Him— must  give  him  a  suitable  endowment  therefor. 
This,  to  my  own  mind,  is  suflBcient  and  conclusive,  apart 
from  revelation,  that  the  rational  endowment  must  be,  and 
is,  of  transcendent  dignity  and  potency. 

II.  There  will  be,  therefore,  in  the  beginning  of  a  created 
rationality,  a  state  of  strangeness  and  m\stery,  and  many 
problems  will  be  wholly  insoluble  in  its  first  experience. 
There  can  be  no  plan  of  rati(mal  being  devised  that  could  be 
placed  fully  within  the  comprehension  of  one  just  entering 
the  first  term  of  its  duration. 

While  it  is  this  exceeding  and  inconceivable  potency  of 
spiritual  being  which  will  everywhere  introduce  the  insoluble 
problems  connected  with  itself  and  its  surroundingp,  it  is 
that  also  which  will  determine  the  plan  of  the  endowment, 
its  structure,  its  methods  of  activity,  and  its  first  field  of 
operations.  It  will  not  be  weakness,  or  feebleness,  or  lack 
of  causal  power,  in  the  incoming  unused  rational  factors, 
but  precisely  the  reverse— to  wit,  their  immediate  strength, 
their  immediate  potency,  their  immediate  untiring  and 
living  spiritual  activity,  as  spiritual  agencies  in  the  realm  of 
being — which  will  make,  involve  and  carry  the  mysteries,  the 
explanation  of  which  can  only  be  made  after  entering  another 
order  of  facts  and  surroundings,  and  not  because  the  endow- 
ment would  lack  the  power  of  comprehending  them,  if  those 
facts  and  surroundings  were  at  first  in  view. 

The  plan  of  the  endowment  will  therefore  include  a  re- 
striction mainly  to  things  in  hand,  as  the  things  at  hand  will 
always,  in  all  worlds,  be  sufficient  for  its  action  and  well- 
being.  If,  however,  there  should  be  in  the  initial  life  a 
peculiar  exceptional  evidence  of  things  unseen  (without  the 
seeing),  this  speciality,  we  should  expect,  would  be  mostly 
sub-conscious  in  its  first  activities,  and  be  so  deeply  and  inti- 
mately inwrought  in  the  structure  as  to  be  hidden  from  view, 
or  so  universally  present  in  all  the  activities  as  to  be  over- 
looked. 

III.  The  fact  of  its  creation  includes  to  the  endow  ment,  the 
inseparable  fact  of  dependence,  as  a  condition  underlying  it, 


INTRODUCTION.  5 

and  to  be  constantly  with  it  in  all  worlds,  and  through  all 
periods  of  duration.  The  plan  of  its  being  will,  therefore, 
recognize  this  condition,  and  set  forth  the  relations  therein 
contained. 

The  myst.  ry  of  being  is  now  seen  to  begin  at  once  at  the 
very  threshold. 

1.  For  the  plan  of  the  endowment  will  here  require  that 
while  it  is  always  separate  and  diptinct  from  the  Creator  in  all 
which  is  personal  and  self -active,  and  special  to  ilself ,  it  must 
always  live  and  move  and  have  its  being  in  Him.  It  is  to 
be  self-active,  but  not  self  existont ;  self-conscious,  but  not 
self-creative.  The  created  endowment  is  to  be,  now  and 
forever,  a  derived  endowment,  and  all  its  power  and  glory 
are  centered  in  that  fact. 

2.  It  follows  that  every  rational  being  is,  and  always  will 
be,  joined  to  its  Creator,  and  in  that  particular  in  which  it  is 
so  joined  with  Him,  it  can  never  be  separated.  There  can 
be  no  isolated  rationality,  whether  created  or  uncreated — so 
that  the  plan  of  rational  being  is  here  seen  to  be  a  plan  of 
fellowship  in  its  very  beginning. 

A  created  personality  from  the  start,  lives  (as  to  its  life) 
in  another  personality,  moves  (as  to  its  capacity)  in  another 
personality,  and  exists  (as  to  its  being)  in  another  personality. 
It  is  impossible  that  a  plan  of  being  can  begin  in  this  way 
without  looking  forward  to  a  conscious  fellowship  not  far 
away,  and  a  recognized  communion  of  interests  common  to 
both  parties. 

We  should  be  very  positive,  therefore,  apart  from  any  ex- 
perience or  revelation,  that  a  plan  of  rational  being  which 
begins  and  continues  in  a  personality  other  than  itself,  will 
be  a  plan,  also,  of  the  most  intimate  and  reciprocal  rational 
activity  with  that  personality  ;  and  for  this  the  plan  will  in- 
clude all  the  suitable  provisions  from  the  beginning. 

The  grovmd-work  of  being  having  been  provided  from 
without  (in  the  Creator),  all  necessary  power  for  beginning 
and  continuing  a  separate  ( xistence,  and  a  separate  person- 
ality having  been  given  by  Him,  and  received,  potentially, 


6  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

by  the  party  who  is  to  appear,  the  plan  of  his  being  will  then 
require  that  his  acting  powers,  as  spiritual  rational  con- 
stituents, shall  bear  a  likeness  to  the  same  powers  in  the 
Creator,  in  which  the  fellowship  may  inhere  and  find  its 
activity,  and  in  which  th«'re  may  be  a  common  ground  for  all 
the  common  interests. 

The  exceeding  and  inconceivable  potency  of  the  rational 
endowment  is  found,  and  consists  in,  this  1  keness  to  the 
Creator,  and  in  a  certain  identity  with  Him  as  spirit.  There 
is  that  in  every  created  personality,  as  spirit,  which  is  incom- 
prehensible to  himself,  so  that  the  mystery  of  h  s  own  being, 
like  that  of  the  Creator,  is  not  within  the  range  of  his  vision, 
and,  as  already  stated,  must  be  found  in  the  unfolding  of  the 
future. 

Practically,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  present  is  all  there  can 
ever  be  to  any  rationality,  but  there  must  always  be  a  future 
into  which  the  footsteps  of  the  present  may  fall  and  find 
room  for  action ;  and  in  that  future,  while  other  mysteries 
may  arise,  the  precedent  mysteries  may  disappear. 

IV.  The  plan  of  a  created  endowment,  in  the  fact  that  it 
is  created,  will  secure  to  it  a  peculiar  freedom  and  sponta- 
neity of  action.  So  far  from  being  burdened  with  the  con- 
stant necessity  of  causing  and  perpetuating  its  own  existence 
and  powers  of  action,  they  will  not  even  come  into  the  con- 
sciousness of  the  acting  party.  There  will  be,  not  only  the 
freedom  of  not  being  burdened  itself  with  the  necessary  basis 
and  facts  of  its  existence,  but  there  will  not  be  the  feeling 
that  they  are  a  burden  to  any  one  tlse — and  this  will  be  true. 
In  short,  the  personal  consciousness  will  not  know  them  or 
perceive  them  in  themselves,  but  in  their  manifestations 
only,  and  this  will  be  properly  a  joy  and  delight— and  we  can 
see,  from  this  standpoint,  that  this  must  be,  at  least  in  part, 
the  purpose  of  rational  being:  to  wit,  a  continual  and  un- 
ceasing delight  and  joy  in  its  own  rational  activity,  and  in 
its  Creator,  and  in  all  pure  beings  in  the  same  likeness. 

If  this  is  admitted,  we  shall  desire  to  see  the  ground  of  it, 
and  its  place  in  the  plan  of  being.    It  assumes  that  a  pure 


INTRODUCTION.  7 

rational  activity  will  be  pleasurable  in  itself,  simply  as 
rational  and  spiritual,  and  apart  from  any  expected  result. 
There  musfc  be,  we  may  suppose,  in  the  arrangement  of  the 
endowment,  a  motor,  everywhere  present,  in  the  beginning 
of  an  activity,  to  prompt  it,  and  that  which  may  act  sub- 
consciously, as  this  motor,  in  the  beginning  of  an  activity, 
may  also  rise  with  it  and  follow  it  in  full  consciousness  ;  and 
this  capacity  to  prompt  and  to  compensate  would  be  emo- 
tional, would  become  a  causal  and  primal  element  in  the  en- 
dowment. As  a  motor  precedent  to  any  activity,  it  would 
be  a  self-active  faculty,  not  indifferent,  but  pleasurable  ;  but 
as  that  which  follows  any  activity,  it  would  not  be  at  all  an 
active  faculty,  but  the  meaning  of  the  act  carried  into 
feeling,  and  stamped  with  approval  or  disapproval,  according 
to  the  rationality  in  the  act,  or  the  lack  of  it.  The  emotional 
in  the  plan  of  a  rational  endowment,  we  should  expect,  would 
be  the  first  responsive  movement  in  coming  up  into  being. 

V.  In  the  fact  that  the  rational  endowment  is  to  be  a 
derived  endowment,  created  and  provided  for  it  by  its  Crea- 
tor, the  limit  of  this  on  the  one  hand,  and  the  beginning  of 
that  on  the  other— which,  in  the  fact  that  it  is  created,  is 
separate  from  its  Creator,  and  has  become  another  person- 
ality— will  require  to  be  carefully  recognized  as  to  its  place 
in  the  plan  of  being,  as  the  responsibility  of  the  created 
endowment  will  begin  with  that  which  it  places  of  itself  and 
its  own  personality  in  this  united  co-operation  of  being  and 
action,  which  will  begin  with  its  first  conscious  activity. 

For,  as  the  Creator  places  Himself  in  that  which  He 
creates,  and  for  which  He  is  responsible,  so  the  created 
rationality  places  himself  in  that  which  he  does,  and  his 
responsibility  begins  and  ends  precisely  in  his  own  individual, 
personal  will  carried  into  action  or  desire,  and  not  in  the 
given,  created  endowment  in  which  he  first  begins  his  activity. 

This  exact  arrangement  in  the  plan  of  being  will  require  a 
careful  investigation,  and  a  more  rigid  method,  which  we 
shall  enter  upon  presently  in  the  Mental  Plan. 

The  positions  so  far  taken  are  the  following : 


8  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

1.  That  the  rational  endowment  will  be  a  spiritual  endow- 
ment. 

2.  That  as  such  it  will  demand  an  inconceivable  potency 
in  its  elements. 

3  That  there  will  be  insoluble  problems  and  mysteries  in 
its  first  experience. 

4.  It  will  not  be  the  weakness  but  the  strength  of  the 
endowment  which  will  cause  the  mysteries  of  being. 

5.  A  restriction  may  be  therefore  expected,  and  attention 
called  directly  to  matters  in  hand. 

6.  A  condition  of  dependence  will  inhere  in  the  fact  that 
the  endowment  must  be  a  created  and  therefore  a  derived 
endowment. 

7.  The  capacity  will  always  be  derived — the  use  of  it  will 
always  be  personal  and  individual. 

8.  Every  rationality  will  therefore  be  joined  inseparably 
to  its  Creator. 

9.  From  this  fact  a  fellowship  and  communion  may  be  ex- 
pected, and — 

10.  A  likeness  in  the  elements  of  being. 

11.  The  potency  of  the  elements  will  be  found  in  this  like- 
ness, as,  also,  their  dignity  and  glory. 

12.  Freedom  and  spontaneity  will  be  permanently  and 
happily  secured  in  the  condition  of  dependence. 

13.  An  emotional  capacity,  as  motor  and  compensation, 
will  be  included  in  the  plan. 

14.  Responsibility  will  rest,  not  in  the  endowment,  but  in 
the  use  of  it. 

These  inferences,  all  of  which  are  drawn  from  the  relations 
which  a  rationality  must  sustain  to  its  Creator,  are  of  incom- 
parable value ;  but  we  have  also  the  great  fact  before  us  that 
the  Creator  has  seen  fit  to  create  that  which  is  not  rational, 
or  spiritual,  or  responsible— that  with  which  He  can  have  no 
fellowship  or  communion,  and  which  can  have  no  possible 
claim  upon  Him  whatever — but  which,  notwithstanding,  is 
brought  very  prominently,  and  persistently,  and  continually 
before  every  rationality  that  appears  on  these  premises. 


INTRODUCTION.  9 

We  conclude,  therefore,  that  the  plan  of  rational  being  in- 
cludes the  plan  of  the  Universe,  or  at  least  of  the  world  we 
occupy.  The  rational  and  the  non-rational,  the  spiritual 
and  the  non-spiritual,  the  responsible  and  the  irresponsible, 
the  living-acting,  and  the  dead-inert,  appear  together  on  very 
close  terms. 

This  connection  of  the  parties,  however,  is  transient,  and 
its  necessity,  if  it  is  a  necessity,  seems  to  be  limited  to  a 
first  term.  It  is  evidently  a  great  and  mighty  factor  in  the 
plan  of  being.  "What  is  its  speciality  in  the  plan  ?  Why  does 
it  appear  at  all,  if  the  connection  is  to  be  limited  to  a  few 
years  only  ?  What  is  the  work  which  it  does  for  the  ration- 
ality in  so  short  a  time,  that  it  can  part  company  so  soon  ? 
What  is  its  purpose  in  the  plan  ?  Is  it  always  to  appear,  but 
in  changed  forms,  in  the  great  durations  of  eternity  ;  and 
may  we  expect  that  the  rationality  is  again  to  be  connected 
with  it,  in  its  changed  forms,  when  there  shall  be  new 
heavens  and  a  new  earth  ? 

To  answer  these  questions,  we  must  begin  at  the  beginning 
of  the  plan — if  that  be  possible — and  see  the  plan  in  its  incep- 
tion, and  the  conditions  that  are  in  the  structure  at  the  base; 
and  it  is  impossible  to  do  this  without  seeing  the  ground,  as 
the  matter  presented  itself  to  the  mind  of  the  Creator,  a 
priori. 


PART  FIRST. 


THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 


THE     FIRST    CONDITIONS. 

In  beginning  this  inquiry,  let  us  separate  ourselves  as  far 
as  possible  from  our  present  surroundings,  and  ask  ourselves 
the  question  which  might  suggest  itself  as  coming  first  in 
regard  to  a  proposed  plan  for  a  rational  endowment,  to  wit : 
Will  the  plan  be  fixed,  or  subject  to  change'? 

To  the  mind  of  the  Creator  this  could  nob  come  up  as  a 
question,  but  to  us  an  examination  of  the  simplest  propo- 
sition may  be  of  help,  especially  if  it  lie  at  the  beginning  of 
a  plan. 

The  Creator,  in  bringing  forth  different  orders  of  ration- 
alities, will  have  a  separate  plan  for  each,  but  the  plan  of 
each  order  will  be  fixed  and  unchangeable.  Plan  presupposes 
order,  and  order  carries  law^  and  law  must  have  an  execu- 
tive ;  and  the  Creator,  who  forms  the  plan  of  being,  forms 
the  order  of  it  and  the  law  of  it,  in  the  one  primal  idea,  in 
which  it  all  stands  before  Him  complete  at  the  beginning, 
with  nothing  to  be  added  or  taken  away.  The  plan  of  the 
rational  endoicment  mitst  be  imnndable. 

It  may  involve  change,  but  not  any  change  that  will  not 
be  foreseen,  pre-arranged  and  provided  for  at  the  beginning, 
and  be  itself  a  part  of  the  plan  and  embodied  in  it.  The 
plan,  as  a  whole,  looking  forward  into  any  possible  future, 
must  be  a  unit,  and  as  such,  unchangeable. 

The  same  question  presents  itself  now  in  regard  to  the 
(11) 


12  THE  MENTAL   PLAN. 

elements  or  constihients  of  the  endowment.  In  the  plan  of 
the  rationalitj',  shall  we  find  them  also  immutable  ? 

Here  we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  the  plan  of  rational  being 
is  a  plan  of  co-operation  with  the  Creator.  lie  creates  and 
continues  the  constituents,  or  acting  powers,  which  the  per- 
sonality therein  contained  is  to  hold  and  use.  If  this  created 
personality  has  no  power  to  create  his  own  elements  of  being, 
has  he  any  power — will  he  be  permitted  to  have  the  power — 
to  change  and  possibly  destroy  them  ?  If  he  can  destroy, 
could  he  not  also  create  V  The  power  to  change  the  elemental 
basis  will,  therefore,  not  be  in  itself,  although  that  self  will 
be— when  it  so  becomes — a  personality. 

Change  has  got  to  make  its  appearance,  but  it  cannot  be  in 
these  constituent  elements,  but  in  the  field  of  their  activity, 
and  in  that  which  is  to  be  distinctly  individual  and  separate 
from  the  Creator.  The  first  activity  of  any  part  of  the 
endowment  will  be  change,  and  all  continued  movements 
will  be  changes ;  but  in  order  to  be  rational  changes,  the 
basal  or  causal  elements  from  which  they  spring  must 
always  be  fixed,  not  subject  to  any  change,  immutable. 

This  is  sutlicient,  but  we  may  repeat  that  the  Creator  who 
formed  the  plan  of  the  rationality,  forms  the  elements,  and 
their  order,  and  their  law,  in  which  each  of  them  stands 
before  Him  complete  at  the  beginning,  with  nothing  to  be 
added  or  taken  away. 

The  elements  of  the  rational  endowment  must,  therefore, 
remain  as  created.  Thought,  if  it  change  to  that  which  is 
not  thought,  disappears.  Will,  if  it  change  to  somewhat 
which  is  not  will,  disappears.  Emotion,  if  it  changes  to 
something  else,  disappears,  ceases  to  be. 

There  can  be  no  change,  therefore,  in  the  elements  of  a 
created  endowment,  unless  He  who  creates  them,  uncreates, 
and  so  removes  them  from  the  realm  of  being.  If,  then,  the 
rational  endowment  is  to  be  eternal,  it  will  remain  and  con- 
tinue unchanged  through  all  durations. 

It  may  well  be,  that  to  a  person  comparing  an  endowment 
in  its  beginning,  with  the  eame  endowment  after  long  periods 


THB    FIRST   CONDITIONS.  13 

of  continued  activity,  there  might  seem  to  be  two  persons 
there  represented,  and  it  might  be  thought  impossible  that 
the  supposed  two  could  be  one  and  the  same  personality ;  but 
if  this  personal  unit  is  put  to  work  on  any  process  of  thinking, 
willing,  or  feeling,  he  will  be  found  to  be  the  same  unit  that 
he  was  at  the  beginning,  working  with  the  same  identical 
constituents. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  we  suppose  an  endowment  to  begin 
with  certain  elements  to  be  continued  only  for  a  certain 
limited  period,  and  then  change,  and  act  in  and  with  certain 
other  elements,  and  so  on,  in  a  succession  of  changes,  there 
would  be  in  this  process  a  number  of  diverse  personalities, 
each  of  which,  after  the  first,  would  begin  at  the  disappear- 
ance of  his  antecedent,  and  this  disappearance  would  be 
cessation  of  being.  Such  absurd  scheme  would  be  a  scheme 
of  different  transient  orders,  and  not  one  of  permanent  order, 
which  is  that  under  consideration,  and  for  which  identity  of 
being  can  be  secured  only  in  this,  that  the  constituents  of 
the  order,  as  such,  remain  always  the  same  through  all 
durations. 

In  what  ground,  then,  and  through  what  agency  is  it  that 
great  and  what  we  term  radical  changes  of  character  take 
place  ? 

The  word  character  expresses  it,  for  it  is  the  stamp  which 
the  person  puts  in  the  act — the  outcome  of  his  own  will,  not 
the  Creator's — and  is  his  own  individual  product.  This  may 
be  against  the  will  of  the  Creator,  and  so  becomes  a  sinful 
act.  No  change  here  has  passed  upon  the  endowment,  as 
elemental  powers,  but  a  change  has  taken  place,  by  his  own 
act,  in  his  relation  to  the  Creator.  In  this  union  of  being 
with  the  Creator,  he  has  given  offense  to  the  very  Person 
who  created  and  gave  to  him  the  power  to  do  it — but  not  the 
disposition,  which  has  been  liis  own.  That  which  has  caused 
sin,  therefore,  has  been  in  the  use,  the  manner  of  using  the 
powers  given,  and  not  in  the  powers  themselves.  All  the  pos- 
sible changes— and  they  may  be  very  many  and  inconceivable 
in  their  extent  and  magnitude— will  be,  not  in  the  original 


14  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

endowment,  but  wholly  in  the  use  of  it.  This  being  the  case,  if 
these  changes,  where  they  have  been  wrong,  be  reversed,  or 
the  offenses  be  put  aside,  under  certain  conditions  which 
would  make  practicable  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  then  the 
original  constituents  of  the  endowment  remaining,  as  we 
have  supposed,  intact,  a  new  beginning  can  be  entered  upon, 
and  possibly  with  better  results. 

On  the  other  hand,  if  sin  changes  the  elements  of  the 
endowment,  the  only  change  would  be  toward  non-being,  or 
less  efficiency  as  agencies,  and  w^e  should  find  the  rebellious 
and  perverse  natures  with  less  power  of  thinking,  willing  and 
feeling  than  others,  and  with  powers  decreasing  in  a  direct 
ratio  with  their  progress  in  wrong-doing,  which  is  not  the  case. 

The  ground  of  all  changes,  I  conceive,  must,  therefore,  be 
wholly  above  and  separate  from  the  ground  of  the  endow- 
ment, and  is  that  vast  field  in  which  the  created  personality 
puts  forth  his  activities  separate  from  the  Creator,  but  with 
the  unchanged  and  unchanging  endowment  which  he  re- 
ceived from  Him,  and  for  the  use  of  which  he  becomes 
responsible.  It  is  that  vast  field  in  which  he  places  himself, 
his  will,  his  purpose  in  all  that  he  does. 

In  all  changes,  however,  and  no  matter  how  vast  and 
destructive,  we  are  not  to  forget  that  the  parties  are  always 
together,  to  that  extent  that  The  One  furnishes  the 
power  which  the  other  uses,  and  therefore  a  mutual  co- 
operation becomes  eminently  practicable  in  all  the  activities 
of  the  rational  endowment  where  the  will  of  both  becomes 
one  and  the  same.  In  other  words,  the  Creator  not  only 
supplies  the  needed  capacity  for  rational  activity  in  the 
unchanging  endowment  of  powers  given,  but  can  furnish 
any  other  power,  in  the  subsequent  use  of  those  powers,  which 
He  may  see  fit  to  grant ;  and  we  may  add  that  no  one  in  the 
Universe  can  have  so  great  and  personal  an  interest  in  the 
welfare  of  another  as  He  who  places  him  in  the  realm  of 
being,  and  gives  to  him  the  outfit  adapted  to  his  order  and 
plan  of  life. 

In  conclusion,  I  cannot  conceive  that  any  created  agency^ 


THE  FIRST  CONDITIONS.  15 

though  it  be  satanic,  can  change  the  rational  endowment; 
neither  could  the  Creator  permit  such  a  change  if  it  were 
possible,  for  if  He  is  to  reward  His  servants  and  to  punish 
His  enemies,  they  must  always  carry,  intact,  the  constitution 
of  being  which  is  to  receive  these  deserts,  and  all  the  agencies 
for  remedy  and  recovery  must  be  applied,  and  only  can  be 
applied,  in  the  field  and  on  the  ground  where  the  troubles 
have  appeared,  which  we  have  seen  will  be  in  that  which  is 
personal,  and  individual,  and  self-begotten  in  the  separate 
personality.  So,  also,  we  may  see  that  any  mediation  which 
can  be  effective  must  be  not  by  one  afar  off,  but  on  the  very 
ground  of  the  hostilities  and  among  the  parties  concerned. 

We  place  in  form  that  which  we  have  herein  found  as  a 
condition  of  rational  being,  to  wit :  TJie  elements  of  the  rational 
endowment  must  be  wunutable. 

It  is  here  to  be  noted  that  this  formula  does  not  determine 
or  define  these  elements,  but  simply  declares  a  condition— one 
of  the  conditions — in  which  they  must  stand,  whatever  their 
speciality,  power  and  purpose  when  they  are  created,  and  as 
the  factors  in  a  rational  endowment.  "Whatever  is  so  found  as 
elements  of  the  endowment,  according  to  this  formula,  can 
never  be  removed,  but  must  abide.  Time  and  its  successions 
will  not  change  them ;  eternal  ages  may  pass,  and  still  these 
elements  of  being  remain  the  same  as  at  the  first  moment  of 
their  beginning.  But  they  themselves — the  factors — are  not 
yet  found,  but  this  condition  only ;  and  now  we  may  look  for 
any  other  condiaon  which  may  be  seen  to  be  most  intimately 
connected  with  this  in  the  order  of  the  original  plan. 

Action  will  involve  change — not  to  the  power  used,  in  the 
sense  of  loss,  but  a  change  of  a  kind  as  yet  unknown  to  the 
person  using  it.  A  rational  endowment  must  have  a  purpose, 
and  this  must  include  activity  of  some  kind— the  beginning 
of  proceedings,  whatever  they  are  to  be — and  this,  from  our 
present  standpoint,  is  wholly  in  tlie  dark. 

What  is  this  to  be  ?  What  can  we  say  of  it  ?  In  the  plan 
of  the  rationality,  what  is  to  follow  any  activity  put  forth 
by  it  ?    What  result  or  results  are  to  appear  ?    What  new 


16  THE  MENTAL   PLAN. 

thing  or  new  fact  will  come  along  as  a  sequence  ?  Here  is  an 
unused  endowment,  direct  from  its  Creator,  ready  to  begin 
its  activity — what  is  to  follow  ? 

We  reply,  the  result  will  depend  (at  first)  wholly  upon  its 
surroundings  and  the  powers  given.  As  a  rationality,  any 
cognitive  faculty  in  it  would,  in  its  action,  take  hold  of  any- 
thing adapted  to  its  reception,  and  so  an  item  of  knowledge 
would  be  taken,  and  this,  as  something  which  it  had  not 
prior  to  its  action,  would  be  something  added  to  itself— a 
proper  first  result.  A  second  active  movement  would  give  a 
second  result,  a  third  movement  a  third  result,  and  so  on, 
indefinitely ;  and  all  these  acquisitions  would  be  its  own,  and 
not  another's,  but  belonging  to  the  personality,  and  so  may 
be  said  to  bring  a  personal  change  with  them  to  the  endow- 
ment. It  is  not  now  simply  an  unused  endowment,  but  an 
endowment  plus  its  acquisitions. 

Here  would  be  increase  without  any  loss  of  elemental 
being,  as  we  have  seen  that  these  elemental  powers  are  not 
subject  to  change  by  loss,  or  reduction,  or  depreciation. 
The  change,  then,  is  not  one  of  equivalents,  as  where  one  goes 
and  another  comes,  but  the  addition  of  a  new  product.  This 
is  a  positive  enlargement,  beginning  at  once,  and  we  might 
designate  the  process  as  increase  by  growth,  except  that 
growth  is  usually  constant  and  continual,  and  we  do  not 
know  that  the  endowment  is  to  act  constantly  and  continu- 
ously, especially  in  its  first  operations.  But  we  may  call  this 
increase  by  activitu,  and  this,  accordingly,  will  be  a  second 
condition  in  the  plan  of  rational  being.  That  which  is  to  come 
forth  from  the  Creator  as  a  rationality,  must  be  such  in  its 
elements  as  to  bring  increase  to  the  personality  by  their 
activity.  The  endowment  will  be  one,  and  in  one  person, 
and  will  act  as  one ;  but  it  will  be  complex  in  its  diverse 
activities,  and  so  we  use  the  term  "element "  or  "constituent" 
in  the  plural,  in  speaking  of  the  make-up  of  the  endowment, 
and  may  use  the  following— to  wit :  elements,  constituents, 
faculties,  factors,  po((>e>'s— interchangeably — meaning  always, 
by  either  of  these  terms,  the  whole  endowment,  and  that  a 
personal  unit. 


THE  FIKST  CONDITIONS.  17 

How  far  any  other  than  a  cognitive  power  may  add  to  the 
person  we  do  not  now  inquire,  or  whether  other  faculties  act 
invariably  to  make  increase— as  there  may  be  some  that  do 
not  attain  their  object,  and  so  add  nothing  to  the  common 
stock,— so,  also,  nothing  as  yet  in  our  inquiry  is  determined 
as  to  what  the  knowledge  which  comes  first  is  itself  to  be,  as 
that  will  depend  upon  locality,  and  agencies  to  be  specially 
arranged  with  a  view  to  that  particular. 

The  condition  of  increase,  however,  is  now  sufficiently 
seen,  in  that  one  activity  to  be  firmly  established,  and  is 
itself  a  permanent  fixture  in  the  plan  of  rational  being. 

We  may  note  here,  before  proceeding  further,  that  the 
very  first  movement  put  forth  by  any  one  factor  will  be  a 
beginning,  and  the  first  real  beginning,  of  a  separate,  per- 
sonal, individual,  rational  agent,  to  whom  these  powers  have 
been  given,  and  that  its  future  increase  will  be  his  own, 
self-made,  and  all  his  own.  This  will  be  the  point  and 
moment  of  his  beginning. 

We  may  see  liere,  also,  better  than  when  further  advanced, 
the  exact  line  of  separation  between  the  Creator's  part  (in 
what  we  have  termed  the  co-operation,  or  partnership,)  and 
the  part  of  the  created  agent,  here  beginning  his  own  sepa- 
rate career.  We  are  not  to  say,  however,  that  here  the 
Creator's  part  ends,  and  the  other  begins ;  but  here,  when 
completed,  the  outfit  of  working  capacity  ends,  as  an  un- 
changing endowment,  and,  when  all  else  is  ready,  the  endow- 
ment begins,  but  the  Creator  must  provide  other  agencies 
before  the  outfit  cm  be  of  any  possible  benefit.  The  most 
brilliant  and  powerful  factors  cannot  act  in  a  vacuum,  or 
litter  vacancy  of  otiier  being  and  agency. 

We  now  proceed  with  our  inquiry  as  to  other  possible  con- 
ditions. We  liave  found  two,  and  there  is  one  more,  which 
is,  in  fact,  involved  in  these  two,  but  sufliciently  separate  to 
demand  a  careful  examination. 

We  will  put  it  in  a  question :  How  far  up  on  a  line  of 
possible  advance  will  the  endowment  begin  its  activity  f 

To  the  mind  of  the  Creator  the  whole  plan  stood  before 


18  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

Him  complete,  as  one  whole,  but  we  have  to  examine  it,  part 
by  part,  and  what  we  are  seeking  for  all  along,  is  not  the 
mere  fact  here  and  there  which  appears,  but  the  reason  why 
the  fact  is  there,  and  could  not  be  other  than  it  is — i.  e.,  we 
seek  everywhere  for  the  prior  law  or  condition  for  that 
which  we  find  outstanding. 

How  high  up  is  that  to  begin,  which  had  no  beginning 
before, — no  prior  experience, — no  acquisitions  whatever, — no 
reference,— no  precedent,— and  no  knowledge, — or  hint, — or 
prescience  of  what  is  to  be?  Shall  it  br .  ng  with  it  a  capacity  to 
instantly  begin  a  full  activity,— seeing  the  reasons  of  every- 
thing intuitively, — understanding  in  a  moment  everything  it 
perceives, — strong  enough  at  the  first  instant  to  undertake 
any  work,— wise  enough  to  make  no  mistakes  or  errors  of 
judgment, — ready  for  anything  and  everything  at  the  very 
start  ?  If  such  an  equipment  were  possible  for  a  rationality, 
would  it  be  the  best  for  his  own  well-being,  and  for  his 
future  ?  This  is  the  question,  and  we  must  reply  that  such 
a  scheme,  if  possible,  would  not  be  beginning  at  a  beginning, 
but  at  some  distance  along  the  journey,  in  which  the  first 
steps— and  those,  possibly,  o.f  unknown  and  unspeakable 
importance— would  be  omitted. 

"We  will  sketch  briefly  two  diverse  plans. 

We  may  suppose  a  person  created  and  held  at  a  stationary 
point,  and  not  capable  or  desirous  of  increase  or  progress — a 
being  projected  into  life  with  a  certain  comfortable  equip- 
ment, as  to  powers  and  capacities,  sustained  continually  on 
that  level, and  only  able  to  receive,  hold  and  use  that  certain 
amount  and  kind  of  facts  in  which  it  first  makes  its  appear- 
ance. Now  we  may  conceive  something  like  this,  whose 
period  or  limit  of  being  should  be  exactly  adapted  and 
conformed  to  such  an  equipment  and  that  this  might  be 
complete  at  the  beginning  and  call  for  no  elfort;  and  for 
temporary  purposes,  we  can  imagine  such  a  plan  of  being, 
but  not  as  chiefly  or  mainly  rational. 

For  it  is  quite  easy  to  see  that  such  an  endowment  could 
only  act  in  a  certain  fixed  round — a  circle  constantly  return- 


THE  FIRST  CONDITIONS.  19 

ing  into  itself— and  there  would  be  in  this  a  repetition  of  its 
experience,  which  would  be,  very  soon,  a  continual  iteration 
and  reiteration  of  so  much  and  no  more,  the  monotony  of 
which,  to  a  rational  being,  would  be  unendurable  if  continued 
beyond  its  exact  limit.  To  make  it  endurable,  the  rational 
elements  would  nefd  to  be  omitted  in  the  construction  of  its 
plan  of  being,  and  it  would  then  answer  to  be  used  by  a 
rationality  and  be  subject  to  it. 

But  using  the  rational  elements  in  the  construction  of  a 
different  and  much  higher  order,  let  us  suppose  they  begin 
their  activity  with  such  an  equipment  as  would  represent  all 
that  may  be  contained  in  the  endowment  and  powers  of  the 
highest  archangel  in  the  presence  of  the  Creator,  all  instantly 
furnished  and  provided  for  it,  without  anything  prior  (for 
this  is  the  beginning),  with  nothing  of  its  own,  properly,  in 
all  the  greatness,  and  potency,  and  variety  of  its  so-called 
possessions — which  are  so,  only,  as  things  received;  gifts 
wholly,  and  not  one  mark  of  its  own  making — and  not  much 
room  or  opportunity  left  for  adding  anything  now  to  its 
perfect  finish  and  completeness ;  would  there  not,  in  all  this, 
if  it  were  possible,  be  something  still  lacking,  lamentably 
lacking,  to  a  rational  intelligence  ?  Would  not  this  monotony 
be  as  unendurable  as  that  we  have  already  mentioned  as 
belonging  to  the  fixed  round  of  a  lower  scheme  ? 

We  reply,  now,  to  the  main  question  as  follows  : 

If  a  rationality  is  to  constitute  a  responsible  agent,  it  will 
be  an  advantage  to  him— and  justice  would  demand — that  he 
should  be,  so  to  speak,  introduced  and  associated  with  himself 
in  the  elements  of  his  being,  at  the  earliest  possible  7noment  of 
their  activity,  and  with  the  first  and  simplest  movement  of  the 
powers  given. 

A  high  range  at  the  start,  an  exalted  rank  at  the  first, 
would  possibly  leave  below  him  a  substratum  of  being 
entirely  unknown  and  strange  to  him,  with  which  he  has  had 
no  acquaintance  or  experience ;  but  if  an  equal  maximum  of 
power  and  fullness  of  endowment  can  be  readied  from  and 
on  a  lower  range,  from  some  initial  point  of  beginning,  it 


20  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

may  be  possible,  in  some  manner,  to  connect  his  own  activity 
with  the  make-up  of  his  own  being — the  first  development  of 
himself — and  so  the  party  most  interested  will  be  made  to 
co-operate  in  his  own  further  construction — the  active 
elements  for  such  a  beginning,  and  co-working,  and  par- 
ticipating, having  been  first  provided  for  him,  at  his  first 
appearance  among  personalities.  Economy  as  to  time  has  no 
bearing  here.  It  cannot  be  said,  "There  is  so  little  time,  the 
beginning  must  therefore  be  so  and  so ;"  but  it  may  be  said, 
"There  is  so  much  time,  the  beginning  must  be  altogether 
and  wholly  as  shall  be  best." 

Now,  instead  of  going  up  on  the  line  of  being,  among  high 
ranks,  and  selecting  a  dizzy  altitude  on  which  to  project  the 
life  and  begin  an  existence,  let  us  follow  down  the  line  of 
being  till  we  come  to  the  smallest  point  of  beginning,  say  a 
capacity  to  receive,  and  from  this  initial  stand-point,  vacant  of 
all  but  the  power  to  act — let  the  little  individual  come  up  into 
being. 

All  the  possibilities  of  a  rationality  will  now  be  before 
him,  as  securely,  and  perhaps  more  so,  through  increase,  and 
he  will  start  from  an  unchanging,  immutable  foundation, 
in  the  unused  and  unburdened  endowment,  with  no  chasm 
of  prior  being  unaccounted  for — no  hiatus  or  unfilled  gap 
along  the  line  of  his  existence.  On  this  plan,  the  question  of 
ranks  in  being,  might  be  one  not  of  initial  power,  but  simply 
of  duration  and  use  of  faculty.  To  the  question,  then,  "How 
far  up  shall  the  endowment  begin  V"  we  reply,  not  up  at  all, 
but  down  at  the  base,  and  at  the  lowest  level  where  that 
which  is  rational  can  find  something  to  do.  This  will  be  our 
third  condition  in  the  plan  of  rational  being,  and  completes 
the  plan,  as  to  first  conditions.  All  others,  of  which  there 
may  be  many,  will  spring  from  these  three,  and  may  easily 
be  referred  to  them,  and  their  connection  plainly  seen. 

We  might  use  the  terms  germinal  beginning  for  this  third 
condition,  but  such  a  definition  would  be  misleading.  A 
germ  contains  within  itself  all  that  it  is  to  be,  and  at  the 
limit  it  ceases  and  passes  out  of  existence.    It  may  propa- 


THE  FmST  CONDITIONS.  21 

gate  itself,  even  in  multitudes,  but  none  of  them  will  proceed 
beyond  its  little  round.  They  all  come  to  an  end,  and  pass 
away.  It  will  be  better  for  us  to  avoid,  as  far  as  possible^ 
any  terms  belonging  to  plant  or  animal  life. 

If  these  three  prior  conditions  are  rationally  found,  they 
will  be  seen  to  be  primitive  and  fundamental.  The  first,  im- 
mutahilitii  of  the  endowment.,  will  give  stability  to  being  t  hrough 
an  identity  indestructible  through  all  durations.  The  second, 
the  condition  of  increase,  will  open  the  way  into  a  vast  range 
of  possibilities,— in  one  direction  infinite, — and  the  last,— the 
condition  of  beginning  fromthe  lowest  level — will  give,  through 
a  self-activity,  self-knowledge,  and,  if  rightly  used,  self- 
control  and  self-possession. 

These  are  not  the  elements  or  constituents,  in  the  plan  of 
being,  but  the  conditions  in  which  the  elements,  when 
found,  must  appear. 

"Whatever  these  elements  may  be  when  found,  the  person 
using  them  becomes,  at  that  moment,  a  rationality  created 
and  separate  from  the  Creator. 

What  it  then  does,  will  be  its  own  doing, — what  it  sees, 
will  be  its  own  seeing, — what  it  reaches,  will  be  its  own 
finding, — what  it  receives  will  be  its  own  taking, — what  it 
carries,  will  be  its  own  holding,— and  what  it  is,  will  be  its 
God-given  endowment,  plus  the  results  of  its  activity  up  to 
that  time, — nothing  more— nothing  less. 


CHAPTER  II. 

THE   ENDOWMENT. 

jTTie  Endowment  Spiritual  and  Self -active. —  Where  Shall  it  he 
Placed  7 

We  are  now  in  position  to  inquire  into  the  particulars  of 
the  elements,  or  constituents  of  the  rational  endowment.  In 
looking  for  the  plan,  we  have,  so  far,  found  three  outstanding 
conditions,  and  from  these  conditions,  it  is  possible  we  may 
get  a  proof  of  the  essential  content,  as  a  whole,  of  what  this 
endowment  is  to  be.  The  inquiry  is  not  now  of  what  might 
be  termed  the  faculties,  as  to  what  they  are  separately  and 
distinctly  as  such,  but  what  these  so-called,  and  at  present 
undefined  faculties,  are  in  themselves  to  be, — or,  in  other 
words,  what  this  endowment  is  in  itself. 

Not  what  is  its  manifestation— or  how  does  it  act,  or  where 
a.nd  when — not  those  particulars  at  all,  but  what  is  it  in  its 
own  being  ? 

What  is  it,  and  what  is  it  to  be  ?  Now,  whatever  it  is, 
according  to  our  first  condition  (immutability),  that  it  is 
always  to  be.  And  this  fact,  its  perduring,  answers  the 
question,  and  both  states  and  proves — emphatically,  and 
clearly,  and  beyond  doubt— that  the  endowment  is  to  be 
spirit,  and  in  action,  is  to  constitute  a  spiritual  personality. 

For  the  only  created  being,  that  continues  the  same,  and 
does  not  in  any  manner  change  its  elements  or  lose  by  its 
activity,  is  spiritual  being.  Force  holds  its  own,  but  it 
changes  its  form  and  its  nature  in  a  thousand  ways,  and  its 
use  and  value  are  found  chiefly  in  that  fact. 

But  that  which  holds  its  own,  and  so  remains,  after  adding 
to  itself  indefinitely,  and,  instead  of  losing,  becomes  greater 
(22) 


THE   ENDOWMENT.  23 

and  stronger  by  its  continual  expenditure  of  its  power — must 
be  a  spiritual  agency. 

We  have  now  added  this  important  fact,  then,  to  the  con- 
ditions in  the  plan  of  the  endowment,  that  the  endowment  is 
to  be  a  spiritual  endowment,  and  all  its  elements — if  we  use 
the  plural  to  express  the  diverse  activities  of  one  person- 
ality— must  be  spiritual  elements. 

But  the  endowment  is  power  also,  by  the  second  condition 
[increase),  the  peculiarity  of  whicli,  we  have  just  noticed,  in 
this,  that  it  adds  to  itself  by  its  own  activity,  and  is,  there- 
fore, in  a  modified  sense,  creative.  We  add  this,  therefore, 
in  the  plan  of  the  endowment,  that  the  rational  endowment 
is  to  have  spiritual  potency,  and  is  to  be,  always,  a  spiritual 
potency,  at  present  of  unknown  measure,  but,  in  any  case, 
capable  by  increase  of  indefinite  enlargement.  We  may 
infer — from  the  fact  that  the  measure  of  this  power  is  not 
defined,  and  so  is  wholly  unknown, — that  this  potency  of 
spiritual  being  is,  in  a  certain  sense,  inconceivable,  and  is, 
perhaps,  to  be  the  most  important  feature  of  the  endow- 
ment. 

We  have  now  two  particulars  in  the  content  of  the  endow- 
ment, to  wit,  spirit  and  })Ower. 

The  power  is  not  separate  from  the  spirit,  but  the  spirit  is 
the  power. 

But  we  ask, — power  for  what  ?  and  the  reply  is — power  to 
act  as  spirit.  In  that  case  the  power  is  its  own,  and  does  not 
come  from  without,  and  so  we  may  say,— it  is  self-active. 
We  have  here  another  particular  to  add,  in  the  plan  of  a 
rational  endowment, — that  it  is  to  be  self-active. 

We  have,  thon,  in  all  so  lar  found,  a  self-acting  spiritual 
agency,  of  unknown  potency.  It  is  created,  and  in  that  fact 
there  is  a  promise,  also,  of  an  unknown  dignity,  and  of  an 
unknown  glory,  as  being  among  its  future  possibilities. 

A  self-acting  spirit,  endowed  with  power,  is  now  ready  to 
act,  and  the  next  great  question,  in  the  plan  of  this  being, 
is, — Where  is  it  to  be  V  Where  is  the  activity  to  begin  ?  What 
is  the  locality,  and  where  is  it,  where  he  can  best  make  his 


24  THE   MENTAL,   PLAN. 

appearance  under  the  three  conditions  in  which  he  must 
stand  ? 

We  must  now  revert  again  to  the  great  underlying  con- 
dition which  precedes  all  others,  and  the  one  in  which  all 
other  conditions  themselves  are  first  found  —  and  always 
remain— that  the  personality  is  to  be  a  created  personality, 
the  endowment  a  created  endowment,  the  powers  given 
created  powers,  and  if  they  continue,  and  so  long  as  they 
continue,  they  are  to  have  their  standing  and  being  in  the 
Creator. 

But,  so  far,  there  is  provided  only  the  power  to  act,  and 
this  is  precisely  the  time  to  notice,  carefully,  that  without 
something  more  provided,  the  powers  given,  however  great, 
and  spiritual,  and  potential,  will  be  utterly  inefficient  and 
inactive.  For,  according  to  the  third  condition,  in  the  plan 
of  the  endowment,  it  must  begin  at  the  lowest  level  of  a 
rational  activity,  and  with  nothing  in  hand. 

But  if  there  is  nothing  in  hand  with  which  to  occupy 
itself — if  it  cannot  turn  in  upon  itself,  and  put  forth  its 
activities  on  what  it  has,  for  the  simple  reason  that  it  has 
nothing  of  its  own,  as  yet,  but  the  capacity  to  act — and  even 
that  in  a  way  as  yet  wholly  unknown  to  itself  until  it  has  an 
opportunity  to  begin  its  action,  and  so  find  itself —if  there  is 
nothing  to  remember  because  there  has  been  no  past,  and  no 
gathering  of  facts,  or  truths,  or  anything  whatever  to  take 
hold  of — then,  if  there  is  nothing  external,  either  personal  or 
impersonal,  with  which  it  can  deal  in  some  way, — no  means 
or  agencies  other  than  itself — tliere  will  be  absolutely  nothing 
for  it  to  do,  and  it  cannot  even  begin  to  come  to  order,  but 
must  forever  remain  a  changeless  fixture  of  unused  and  un- 
usable power,  of  no  value  to  itself,  or  to  Him  who  created  it. 

It  will,  therefore,  devolve  upon  Him  to  provide  means  and 
agencies  which  shall  furnish  a  suitable  and  proper  oppor- 
tunity for  the  outcoming  activities  of  the  endowment,  which 
will  seek  instantly,  as  living  spiritual  potencies,  for  some- 
thing to  do. 

We  may  notice  here — as  now  seen,  and  seen  better  than  at 


THE   r.XDOAVMENT.  '^5 

any  advanced  slase— that  the  proper  field  of  its  activity,  at 
least  at  its  beginning,  is  to  be,  and  naust  be,  outside  of  itself — 
and  if  its  activity  is  to  bring  it  anything,  this  something 
brought  to  it  will  be  from  outside  of  itself— n-nd  if  anything 
pleasurable  is  to  come  in,  it  must  be  from  something  or 
some  agency  outside  of  itself.  IIow  long  this  state  of  things 
is  to  continue,  we  will  not  now  inquire,  but  if  it  should  prove 
to  be  an  integral  part  of  the  plan  of  the  endowment,  and  to 
prevail,  to  a  large  extent,  in  all  its  future  experience,  we  may 
remember  that  we  found  it  in  the  very  beginning,  and  framed 
in,  in  the  construction,  primitive  and  fundamental. 

Here  it  may  be  claimed  that  if  its  activity  is  to  be  found 
outside  of  self,  let  it  be,  then,  at  once,  in  and  with  the 
Creator.  That  must  be,  it  may  be  said,  His  ultimate  purpose, 
in  any  plan  of  rational  being. 

We  admit  that  this  is  the  ultimate  purpose,  and  that 
through  certain  media,  this  will  be,  or  may  be,  accomplished. 
It  is,  unquestionably,  a  part  of  the  plan,  but  in  what  con- 
dition is  an  unused  and  undeveloped  endowment  to  appear 
before  God  ?  What  can  it  bring  before  Him,  when  it  has  not, 
as  yet,  any  use  of  its  own  powers,  and  has  not  even  come  into 
self-consciousness  ?  It  must  fii'st  receive  somewhat  from 
without,  and  develop  somewhat  from  within,  before  it  can 
have  anything  strictly  its  own,  and  so  there  must  somewhere 
be  a  process,  calling  for  time,  and  an  experience  of  its  own 
diverse  methods,  before  it  can  be  said  to  have  come  to  order, 
and  to  have  formed  itself  into  a  personality.  For  it  is  the 
active  endowment  only  that  becomes  personal,  and  until  it  so 
acts,  it  falls  short  of  being  a  personality,  and  is  only,  as  we 
have  already  termed  it,  a  changeless  fixture  of  spiritual 
power,  of  no  value  to  itself,  or  to  Him  who  brought  it  into 
being. 

The  previous  question,  therefore,  (where  shall  the  endow- 
ment begin  its  activity?)  is  one,  as  we  may  now  see,  of  the 
greatest  magnitude. 

We,  on  our  part,  in  all  this  discussion,  are  simply  seeking, 
looking  for,  endeavoring  to  find — the   plan.     If  we  were 


26  THE  :mextal  plan. 

ourselves  forming  or  creating  the  plan  and  all  its  arrange- 
ments, we  might  put  the  question  in  this  form,  to  wit : 
AVhere  shall  these  conditions  which  we  have  found,  and  which 
we  have  seen  must  be  in  the  plan  of  a  created  rationality,  [im- 
mutability, increase,  and  beginning  at  t'lC  lotnest  level,) — where 
can  these  conditions  be  arranged  to  the  best  advantage  of  the 
individual  who  is  to  make  liis  appearance  in  them  ?  Or, — 
these  conditions  being  fixed  and  unalterable, — is  there  any 
choice  as  to  locality  ?  or  is  there  any  choice  as  to  circum- 
stances ?    Is  he  ready  to  appear  anywhere  and  everywhere  ? 

If  we  are  permitted  to  suppose  that  questions  similar  to 
these  came  upbef  ore  the  mind  of  the  Creator,  it  must  have  been 
before  the  creation  of  the  present  outstanding  Universe.  Let 
us  imagine  ourselves  as  looking  into  these  questions  from 
the  same  stand-point.  Let  us  go  back  into  eternity,  to  a 
period  prior  to  all  that  we  now  see,  and  ask  these  questions 
there,  "  or  ever  the  earth  and  the  world  were  made,"  before 
the  stars  lighted  up  the  deep,  before  chaos  came  into  order, 
and  system,  and  law  and  special  arrangement,  and  when  the 
things  visible  now  were  invisible,  and  the  forces  now  in 
operation  had  not  come  into  place  and  efficiency,  and  darkness 
and  silence  were  on  the  face  of  the  deep.  Let  us  imagine 
ourselves  placed  there  in  that  eternity  before  time  began,  and 
to  be  somewhere  present  in  the  spiritual  realm  of  that  Great 
and  Wonderful  Being  wlio  created  us  and  brouglit  us  forth 
into  rational  being,  and  has  endowed  us  with  all  the  faculties 
and  powers  of  an  eternal  life— Him  in  whom  we  live  and 
move  and  are.  In  this  realm,  also,  are  the  creatures  of  God, 
ranks  and  principalities,  and  powers  and  dominions,  which 
have  sprung  from  His  creative  power  in  the  past  eternity. 
The  wonders  of  this  realm  are  beyond  the  power  of  tongue 
to  express.  The  greatness  and  the  glory  of  these  high 
personalities  are  utterly  and  beyond  all  thought  inconceivable. 
Great,  and  strong,  and  mighty,  and  of  perfect  purity,  without 
spot  or  stain,  they  are  before  the  throne  of  God,  and  their 
home  is  there. 

Now  shall  the  little  individual,  whose  plan  of  endowment 


THE   ENDOWMENT.  27 

we  have  been  s-ketching,  begin  his  activity  in  this  realm  ? 
Shall  this  child,  the  magnitude  of  whose  being  is  at  first  to 
be  as  a  mere  point  or  capacity  of  beginning — receive  his  first 
lessons  and  impressions  in  this  state  of  open  vision  ?  Shall 
the  light  of  eternity  be  permitted  to  fall  with  full  force  upon 
him,  on  his  first  entrance  into  life  ?  Can  he  bear  the  impact, 
the  weight,  the  shock,  of  the  eternal  verities,  and  the  glory 
of  them,  when,  as  yet,  he  can  scarcely  bear  his  own  con- 
sciousness ?  Can  his  vision  at  once  be  adapted  to  the  infinite 
depths  of  that  realm  ?  Can  he  live,  even  for  a  moment,  in 
that  presence  ?  Would  he  not  be  overwhelmed  with  the 
magnitudes  and  the  numbers,  the  multitudes  and  the 
varieties  of  that  strange  and  wonderful  kingdom  ? 

We  cannot  answer  these  questions  any  further  than  this, 
that  if  the  conditions  of  the  plan  are  substantially  as  we  have 
indicated  them,  a  first  appearance  here,  would  be  out  of  place. 
If  without  any  immediate  reference  to  this  realm,  and  solely 
in  regard  to  his  own  individual  welfare  and  self-poise,  we 
have  seen  that  it  would  be  highly  disadvantageous  to  begin 
with  a  high  endowment — that  he  would  be  unable  to  steady 
himself,  or  carry  himself  properly — that  he  would  be  top- 
heavy  and  without  ballast,  and  this  without  reference  to 
others,  but  himself  only — how,  then,  would  he  be  able  to 
carry  himself  with  propriety,  or  even  retain  his  self- 
consciousness,  if  suddenly  admitted,  with  whatever  equip- 
ment, into  this  kingdom  ?  These,  and  other  questions 
directly  connected,  are  so  primal  and  fundamental,  they 
demand  a  careful  examination. 

We  may  put  all  these  matters  in  the  one  inquiry,  whether 
the  endowment  shall  begin  its  activity  directly,  in  the 
presence  of  its  Creator,  or  separate  from  that  presence. 

First,  it  is  important  to  notice  here,  that  the  Creator,  in 
forming  the  endowment,  has  already  placed  it,  so  to  speak, 
separate  from  Himself.  In  the  act  of  creating  that  which  is 
to  be  the  beginning  of  another  and  a  separate  personality,  it 
was  necessary  to  detach  it  from  Himself  and  to  place  it  out- 
side somewhere — not  any  longer  in  His  own  Being,  although, 


23  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

in  one  sense,  a  part  of  it — but  so  far  separated  as  may  be 
necessary  to  give  it  the  best  and  fullest  opportunity  to  act  as 
a  separate  personality.  The  Creator,  I  say,  has  already 
necessarily  created  it  in  a  state  of  separation  from  Himself, 
and  the  question  is  how  great  must  this  separation  be,  and 
what  manner  of  separation  is  it  to  be  ?  Is  it  to  be  a  sepa- 
ration real  to  both  parties,  or  to  one  only  ?  For  there  is  still 
to  be  a  union  of  the  endowment  with  its  Creator,  however 
great  may  be  any  apparent  separation  from  His  conscious 
presence.  The  separation  never  can  be  so  great  as  to  disunite 
the  parties— i.e.,  the  Creator,  who  brought  forth,  and  must 
sustain  and  continue  the  endowment,  and  the  personality, 
who  uses  it  and  finds  himself  in  it.  It  need  not,  however,  be 
inquired  into,  in  the  light  of  convenience,  as  to  whether  the 
field  of  the  activity  shall  be  near  by  or  far  removed,  for  to 
Him,  distances  in  space  will  be  of  no  account ;  and  wherever 
it  is.  He  will  be  as  much  present  in  one  place  as  in  another, 
for  the  purposes  which  He  will  be  carrying  on,  manifesting 
His  presence  here  and  there,  in  the  manner  which  He  sees  to 
be  wisest  and  best. 

We  have  already  suggested  that  a  direct  manifestation  of 
His  presence,  to  an  endowment  beginning  under  such  con- 
ditions as  belong  to  it,  would  seem  to  be  impracticable, 
if  not  impossible.  And  the  reasons  are  to  be  looked  for, 
first  of  all,  in  what  we  may  designate  as  the  exceeding 
potency  of  spiritual  being,  and  the  unknown  and  possibly 
irresistible  outflowing  influences  of  spiritual  presence. 

In  reference  to  this,  we  may  suppose  that  the  manifesta- 
tions of  the  Supreme  Being  may  be  graduated  to  the  varied 
capacities  of  the  different  orders  and  ranks  of  rational  being 
which  He  has  Himself  created  and  still  creates— and  that  for 
the  beginning  of  each  of  these  varied  orders,  cer;ain  arrange- 
ments might  be  needed  (temporarily)  for  adapting,  and 
limiting,  and  defining  such  manifestation,  and  to  be  in  each 
case  special  and  peculiar  to  the  order  as  such — and  also,  that 
for  an  endowment  that  begins  at  the  lowest  level,  the  mani- 
festation should  ako  be  ut  the  lowest  level  at  which  He 


TH-E  ENDOWMENT.  29 

should  see  fit  to  declare  Himself, — and  in  these  cases  (refer- 
ring specially  and  only  to  a  first  term  of  duration — the 
beginning — the  initial  proceedings)  these  so-called  arrange- 
ments might  themselves  be  the  manifestation,  on  that  level, 
and  the  only  outward  manifestation  that  could  be  made 
advantageous  to  the  parties  concerned. 

This  opens  up  the  subject  sufticiently  in  that  direction. 
We  will  now  turn  to  another  matter  which  is  close  at  hand. 

This  exceeding  spiritual  potency  is  also  to  be  the  marked 
characteristic  of  the  created  endowment.  If,  therefore,  any 
arrangement  is  needed  as  a  protection  from  the  supposed 
outflowing  energies  of  this  spiritual  presence  in  a  spiritual 
realm,  and  especially  as  would  be  the  case  in  the  presence 
of  the  Creator,  so  also  it  may  be  needed  as  a  restriction  to 
the  same  potency  (the  outflowing  energy)  in  itself — some 
method  of  limiting,  defining  and  regulating  the  first  activities 
of  that  which  has  never  been  in  action  before,  and  which 
otherwise  may  be  limitless,  indefinite,  unregulated  and 
irrational.  It  might  also  be  supposed  that  the  protection 
from  spiritual  power  from  without,  and  the  restriction  of  the 
spiritual  power  within,  might  both  be  arranged  in — and  be  a 
part  of — the  same  plan  adopted  for  the  manifestation  of 
the  Creator's  presence  on  the  low  level  at  which  all  the 
proceedings  (when  arranged)  are  to  begin. 

In  brief,  the  endowment  seems  to  need  both  protection  and 
restriction  before  it  will  be  safe  for  it  to  begin  its  activity. 

Now  we  ask,  can  such  protection  and  restriction  be  pro- 
vided in  the  immediate  presence  of  the  Creator  ?  To  answer 
this  we  must  ask  what  will  that  need  to  be,  which  can 
protect  and  which  can  restrict  spiritual  potency  in  the 
manner  required.  Would  it  be  something  more  of  the  same 
spiritual  and  elemental  content — some  agency  which  might 
be  created  for  this  special  purpose,  i.e.,  of  protecting  the 
endowment  from  other  spiritual  powers,  whose  ofllce-work 
should  be  to  guard  and  protect  all  newly-created  endowments 
during  their  first  experience  ?  If  so,  this  protecting  agency, 
if  a  spiritual  one,  would  only  increase  the  difliculty  ;  for  what 


80  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

is  needed  to  protect,  is  something  to  shut  out  immediate 
spiritual  agencj-,  and  it  is  conjectured  that  something  may 
be  found  that  will  do  this,  and  at  the  same  time  restrict  the 
same  agency  in  the  endowment. 

If,  then,  we  follow  up  the  inquiry  as  to  what  can  so  protect 
and  so  restrict — we  must  see  now,  very  plainly,  that  it  must 
be  something  compulsory, — something  which — within  certain 
definite  limits — shall  offer  a  constant  resistance,  and  an 
effective  resistance  to  the  influences  and  potencies  which  it 
is  desired,  to  a  certain  extent,  to  exclude — i.  e.,  so  far  as  may 
be  found  of  advantage — to  that  extent  precisely,  and  no 
more. 

Here  begins  the  great  difliculty  in  the  plan,  for  the  con- 
ception of  anything  compulsory  in  the  spiritual  realm  is 
inadmissible.  We  know  but  little  of  that  realm,  but  nothing 
can  be  more  certain  and  positive  than  this,  that  the  citizens 
of  that  kingdom  are  free.  He  who  creates  the  endowment 
will  provide  for  it,  and  to  Him  there  are  no  difliculties,  but 
to  us  who  are  searching  for  these  particulars  in  the  plan  of 
being,  the  mysteries  are  constantly  before  us,  and  we  can 
proceed  only  step  by  step.  If  it  be  said,  the  compulsion  may 
be  easily  found  in  the  spiritual  potency  of  the  dwellers  in 
that  kingdom,  and  ought  to  be  admissible  there,  on  the 
ground  that  if  a  real  compulsion  is  called  for,  we  may 
suppose  that  it  could  be  made  much  more  endurable  by 
coming  from  pure  spiritual  beings,  than  from  any  other  kind 
of  agency,  (if  there  must  be  an  agency  for  that  purpose), — 
this,  even  if  permitted,  would  be  wholly  impracticable,  for 
the  protection  and  restriction  needed  must  be  constant, 
instant  and  continual — a  permanent  state  for  its  appointed 
time — and  besides,  as  already  stated,  it  could  only  be  done 
here  by  a  still  closer  relation  to  parties  from  whom  the 
endowment  is  seeking  to  be  separated. 

There  is,  also,  another  difficulty.  The  endowment  must, 
also,  itself  be  free ;  and,  strange  as  it  may  seem,  its  freedom 
can  only  be  secured  by  that  which  can  protect  and  restrict 
it  to  the  extent  desired.    If  proof  is  needed  that  the  endow- 


THE   ENDOWMENT.  31 

ment  is  to  be  free,  we  have  it  in  what  we  have  already  found 
in  its  spiritual  content — to  wit— that  it  is  to  be  self-active. 
If  it  is  not  free,  then  it  is  not  acting  from  self  and  is  not  self- 
active.  If  it  is  self-active,  then  it  must  be  free.  As  a 
spiritual  rational  personality,  it  must  be  both  free  and  self- 
active.  If  placed  within  limits,  then  its  self-activity  and 
freedom  will  be  within  those  limits. 

That  is  the  point  we  are  approaching  in  regard  to  what  is 
to  constitute  the  restriction,  which  will  still  leave  it  a  free, 
self-acting  personality. 

It  would  seem,  from  the  peculiar  state  of  the  case,  that  an 
agency  that  is  not  itself  of  the  nature  of  spirit  would  meet 
the  demand.  It  would  meet  it,  so  far  as  this,  that  it  would 
not  contain— and  so  obtrude — the  element  from  which  the 
endowment  needs  protection.  It  would  not  be  objectionable 
in  that  particular.  It  would  be  a  certain  efficiency  or  agency, 
minus  all  that  is  spiritual  and  rational  and  personal.  Not 
necessarily  the  antithesis  of  spirit,  and  not  so  far  different 
that  the  two  cannot  come  together.  Let  us  follow  along  the 
line  of  this  suggestion ,  and  ask  whether  the  Creator  may  not 
originate — put  forth  from  Himself — create — something  of 
this  kind.  In  so  doing.  He  would  also  necessarily  place  it 
separate  from  Himself,  and  if  it  is  something  which  could  come 
into  form  and  occupy  space,  then  there  would  also  be  found 
something  for  which  space  seems  peculiarly  and  very  largely 
adapted.  If  something  of  this  kind  is  first  to  be  created, 
then  this  would  become  another  and  a  very  important  part 
of  the  plan  of  a  created  rationality,  and  the  elements  of  the 
endowment  would  need  to  be  such,  when  created,  as  could 
find  their  proper  activity  in  the  fit^ld  of  these  arrangements, 
and  with  these  diverse  agencies.  The  plan  of  the  endowment 
would  then  not  be  limited  to  a  plan  of  fellowship  and  com- 
munion of  spirit  with  spirit,  but  would  include  a  dealing  of 
some  kind,  with — and  perhaps  from— these  other  agencies, 
whatever  they  are  to  be.  We  may  suppose  that  this  would 
quite  largely  modify  the  primal  structure  of  the  endowment, 
while  the  endowment  itself,  as  spiritual,  would  still  remain 


32  TUB   MENTAL   PLAN. 

the  same.  Whatever  is  introduced,  it  must  not  in  any 
aianuer,  exclude  a  proper  and  regulated  communion  of  spirit 
with  spirit ;  for  when,  at  an  advanced  period,  this  personality 
is  prepared  to  appear  in  the  presence  of  its  Creator,  it  will  be 
as  a  spiritual  personality,  prepared  for  a  free  rational  inter- 
course with  those  dwelling  there ;  and  for  this  purpose,  its 
elemental  structure  and  the  potency  of  its  factors  will  need 
to  have  been — and  to  still  be — precisely  the  same  as  theirs. 
As  unused  and  untried  and  undeveloped,  it  will  be,  at  the 
beginning,  simply  potential,  but  the  power  as  it  comes  forth 
into  action,  will  be  the  same  in  kind  with  that  of  all  spiritual 
being,  and  its  prior  (dealings  with  other  agencies,  (if  there  are 
to  be  such),  must  be  supposed  not  to  interfere  with  this 
spiritual  content,  but  in  some  manner  to  subserve  and  do 
a  certain  preliminary  work,  in  developing,  indicating  and 
regulating  the  same. 

In  order  to  see  more  clearly  what  would  be  the  probable 
movement  of  an  loirestricted  activity,  and  so,  also,  see  a  little 
better  what  it  might  need,  let  us  now  suppose  that  these 
purely  spiritual  factors  in  the  newly-created  endowment, 
shall  begin  their  career  without  restraint  or  direction  of  any 
kind.  As  soon  as  they  are  moved  into  activity,  severally  or 
unitedly,  whether  by  their  own  self-active  movement,  or  by 
something  without,  or  by  both  c>imbined,  they  will — unless 
held  in  check  in  some  manner  unknown  to  us — be  ceaseless 
in  activity,  (we  may  suppose)  non-intermittent,  without 
sense  of  effort  or  of  weariness,  however  great  and  rapid  in 
movement,  and  will  so  continue  to  act  without  let  or  pause, 
indefinitely.  Before  it  has  any  knowledge  of  itself,  or  of 
others,  there  would  be,  in  its  first  venture,  an  indiscriminate 
plunge  (not  owing  to  the  Aveakness  of  the  factors,  but  their 
potency)  into  the  facts  and  laws  of  being,  before,  as  yet,  any- 
thing is  known  of  these  facts  and  laws,  and  before  anything 
is  known  of  its  own  powers  and  modes  of  activity,  and 
proper  methods  of  procedure, — methods  which  can  only  be 
known  as  acquired,  and  powers  which  can  only  come  forth  in 
tlieir  exercisp. 

Will  it  be  possible,  we  ask,  for  potencies  so  great  and 


THE  EN^DOWMENT.  33 

faculties  so  complex,  to  begin  their  activity  rationally  and 
safely  in  this  unrestricted  manner  V  If  the  laws  of  its  en- 
dowment, and  the  very  methods  of  its  varied  activities  will 
all  be,  one  by  one,  not  things  fully  found  or  comprehended  in 
the  fact  of  coming  into  being,  but  in  each  particular  are  to 
be  matters  of  slow  acquisition, — things  to  be  examined,  tried, 
proved  and  judged,  and  at  last  only  slowly  and  partially 
understood  after  long-continued,  patient  and  repeated  exer- 
cises of  all  its  faculties,— then,  in  place  of  the  ceaseless  and 
tireless,  unregulated  movement,  may  there  not  be  need  of 
that  which  will  bring  partial  cessation — rest — stoppage — inter- 
ruption —  new  starting-points  —  re-consideration  and  calmer 
viovemcnt? 

If  this  regulated  and  calmer  movement  is  needed,  then,  as 
conditional  for  it,  must  there  not  be  an  arrangement  for  suc- 
cession in  time  ?  and,  as  conditional  for  time,  an  extension 
in  space  ?  If  so,  we  shall  have  arrived  at  this  forecast,  that 
the  plan  of  a  rational  endowment  can  only  appear  and  be 
carried  out  in  relations  of  space  and  time.  It  will  follow 
that  in  addition  to  faculties  wholly  intuitive,  such  as  we  may 
suppose  belong  to  spiritual  beings,  there  will  need  to  be  a 
subordinate  class  of  working  faculties,  which  can  take  a 
slower,  discursive  activity,  in  a  separate  field  and  within  fixed 
and  near-by  limits, — and  be  specially  and  exactly  adjusted 
and  adapted  to  these  new  space  and  time  relations.  This 
brings  us  again  to  the  question.  What  shall  be  the  efficiency 
or  agency  which  shall  so  restrict  and  secure  to  the  rational 
endowment  this  slower  and  more  regulated  activity,  in  which 
such  subordinate  faculties  may  be  enabled  to  find  their 
appropriate  methods,  and  attain  for  the  endowment  a  rational 
self-control  ?  If  it  be  suggested  that  the  endowment  be 
created  with  a  prepared  self-control,  there  would  be  in  that 
instinct  only,  not  a  rationality.  A  prepared  instinct  would 
give  a  so-called  (apparent)  self-control,  but  instinctive  only, 
not  rational.  A  rational  self-control  must  be  acquired,  and 
the  check  and  limit  to  the  endowment  necessary  for  this 
acquisition  must  be,  as  we  have  found,  something  ccmpulsory, 
and   therefore    something  other  than  itself,  and,  whether 


34  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

personal  or  impersonal,  must  be,  as  we  conceive,  ever- 
present  and  constant  for  its  appointed  time.  Once  more  we 
ask,  Can  any  such  ever-present  and  compulsory  check  or 
limit  to  a  rationality  be  found  or  have  place  among  pure 
spiritualities?  We  think  not.  We  think  it  can  only  be  in 
something  of  a  different  potency  and  of  entirely  different 
component  elements.  But  granting  that  such  a  restriction 
could  possibly  be  arranged  in  the  spiritual  reahn,  it  will  still 
be  necessary  that  the  endowment,  however  arranged  and 
placed,  and  within  whatever  required  restrictions,  shall  be 
entirely  free,  within  those  limits,  and  subject  to  no  inter- 
ference except  such  as  may  come  from  its  own  inherent  laws 
of  being,  as  a  rationality,  and  we  may  reasonably  question 
whether  such  freedom  can  be  found  (with  the  initial  con- 
ditions of  an  untried  endowment)  in  the  midst  of  what  may 
be  the  irresistible  pressure  and  outflowing  potency  of  imme- 
diate spiritual  presence. 

.Again.  If  the  non-intermittent  and  continuous,  rapid,  im- 
petuous movement, — such  as  we  suppose  it  to  be  in  the 
primitive,  normal,  purely  spiritual  state, — is  to  be  in  some 
compulsory  manner  checked  and  reduced  in  a  first  experience, 
and  provisional  subordinate  factors  added  in,  in  the  endow- 
ment, which  shall  be  a  Ijusted  and  adapted  to  a  slower  move- 
ment, in  relations  of  space  and  time,— then,  if  in  these  space 
and  time  relations  some  agency  wholly  new  and  diverse  from 
that  which  is  spiritual  can  be  created  and  come  into  form 
and  place,  there  would  be  to  incoming  personalities,  with  un- 
used and  untried  rational  factors,  the  very  great  advantage 
of  seeing  first,  in  a  time  succession,  and  in  form  and  out- 
line, to  the  fullest  extent  and  in  the  greatest  variety  of  which 
such  forms  would  be  capable, — a  prepared  representation  of 
certain  primary  laws  and  statements  and  first  principles,  in 
the  interpretation  of  which,  the  subordinate  faculties  above 
mentioned,  would  come  easily  and  attractively  into  their  own 
appropriate  regulated  movements  as  designed,  while  in 
reference  to  personalities — spiritual  beings, — their  higher 
endowment  would  still  be  wholly  and  purely  intuitive  for  all 
I  ho  laws,  and  facts,  and  revelations,  oi  that  kingdom. 


THE  ENDOWMENT.  35 

We  are  now  getting  a  little  insight  into  the  greatness,  and 
vastness,  and  complexity,  of  the  plan  of  being,  and  as  yet  we 
are  only  upon  the  threshold,  and  all  our  investigations  are  to 
be,  and  will  be,  only  upon  the  threshold.  It  is  as  far  as  we 
can  go,  and  we  may  be  thankful  that  we  can  look  in  at  the 
open  door,  and  get  a  glance  at  the  wonders  and  the  mysteries 
of  the  plan  of  rational  being. 

The  doubt  is  not  that  there  is  so  much  as  we  have  found, 
and  that  it  is  real  and  valid,  but  that  there  is  so  much  more, 
that  is  unseen,  and  unfound,  and  yet  to  be  revealed. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE    IMPERSONAL. 

Its  Content  and  Connection  with  the  Personal. 

"We  have  now  before  us  a  shadowy  coneeptiou  of  something 
entirely  new  in  the  plan  of  a  rational  endowment.  As  some- 
thing diverse  from  that  which  is  rational,  it  will  be  separate 
from  it,  and  so  becomes  a  separate  party — a  second  party  in 
the  plan,  and  just  as  important,  in  its  place  and  for  its  uses 
and  purposes,  as  the  first  party,  and  in  one  sense  much  more 
so — for  this  party  of  the  second  part,  it  is  evident,  must  first 
be  created  and  come  into  place,  before  the  first  party  can 
make  his  appearance.  Both,  as  yet,  are  in  the  background, 
their  elements  not  found,  and  only  the  conditions  of  the  one 
whose  plan  we  are  seeking,  and  this  second  party  now  appears 
as  conditional  for  the  first,  but  as  far  as  we  can  judge,  to 
remain — as  a  condition — only  for  a  limited  duration.  Any 
apparent  union  between  them,  however  close  and  intimate, 
will  not  by  any  means  be  a  union  of  elements,  and  therefore, 
not  strictly  a  real  union — for  their  innate  diversity  will 
always  prevent  it, — but  an  apparent  unity  will  show  itself  in 
a  certain  reciprocity,  and  in  the  fact  that  they  will  both 
occupy,  for  the  time,  the  same  premises,  and  live  and  act 
together  as  one. 

Now,  we  may  ask,  what  is  this  new  party  to  be  ?  As  we 
put  this  question  in  regard  to  the  endowment,  and  then 
looked  to  the  conditions  to  get  our  reply,  and  found  the 
endowment  to  be  spirit  in  its  content,  so  we  may  look  to  any 
<5ondition3  which  call  for  this  second  party,  to  determine 
what  that  also  is  to  be.  To  do  this  we  shall  have  to  repeat 
(36) 


THE  IMPERSONAL.  37 

a  little,  and  go  over,  briefly,  the  same  ground  recently 
examined. 

First,  we  had  before  us  the  exceeding  potency  of  spiritual 
being,  as  calling  for  some  adequate  protection  from  the  sup- 
posed outflowing  power  of  spiritual  presence. 

Second,  the  same  spiritual  potency  in  the  factors  of  the 
new,  untried  endowment,  call  for  an  adequate  restriction  in 
their  own  activity,  (not  a  reduction,  or  temporary  decrease  of 
power, — not  that  at  all, — but  something,  to  check  and  limit 
the  activity,)  and  in  so  doing,  point  out  and  secure  for  them 
their  appropriate  methods,  their  laws  of  being  and  their  best 
results, — in  regard  to  which  it  was  noted  that  their  strength 
and  intensity  will  demand  such  adequate  restriction,  and 
(third)  that  this,  to  be  adequate,  must  be  compulsory  and 
ever-present. 

Fourth,  we  found,  also,  that  this  agency  and  help  for  the 
endowment  must  necessarily  be  something  in  its  elements, 
other  than,  and  diverse  from,  itself.    We  now  proceed. 

Fifth,  this  other  than  itself  must  be  personal,  impersonal,^ 
or  both.  If  personal,  it  will  need  to  be  either  a  constant,  in- 
visible directing  power,  given  to  the  endowment  to  protect 
and  restrict  as  called  for,  which  would  be  instinct— ov  that 
two  personalities  should  be  joined  in  one,  the  stronger  to 
control  the  weaker,  which  latter,  in  that  case,  would  not  be 
free,  and  would  also  be  a  plan  for  two— a  duality— and  not  a 
plan  for  an  individual. 

Sixth,  if  impersonal,  it  will  be  necessarily  other  than  the 
endowment  in  its  content,  and  may  be  compulsory  and  con- 
stant and  ever-present.  Within  such  impersonal  restriction, 
there  may  be  perfect  freedom  for  all  the  initial  activities  of 
a  rational  endowment. 

Seventh.  But  as  this  agency  must  have  power  to  restrict 
and  limit,  it  must  itself  come  forth  from  a  person,  and  be 
created  by  the  same  Creator  who  creates  the  endowment, 
and  be,  in  all  particulars,  planned  and  arranged  for  its  use 
and  benefit, — and  now  we  may  say  that  such  created  agency 
will  be  created  force, — which,  also,  arj  ever-present  with  the 


38  THE   MEXTAL   PLAN. 

endowment,  will  yet  be  invisible  (except  as  to  its  mani- 
festation), and  so  will  be,  in  a  certain  sense,  both  personal 
and  impersonal  to  the  main  party.  Impersonal,  as  not  being 
sensible,  rational,  spiritual  or  responsible — and  personal,  in  a 
remote  sense,  as  being  an  expression  of  the  will,  and  power, 
and  to  some  extent  the  purpose,  of  the  unseen  Creator. 

It  is  now  quite  conceivable  that  this  unique  combination 
of  what  we  may  here  designate  an  impersonal-personal,  may 
provide  the  needed  preparation,  prdection,  restriction  and 
freedom  for  the  rational  endowment,  in  some  localized 
organic  form,  suitable  for  tbe  purpose,  and  that  the  same 
created  impersonal  agency  may  be  capable  of  being  put  in  a 
world  form,  and  so  provide  a  locality  and  home,  where  the 
proceedings  may  begin,  and  the  plan  of  the  endowment  be 
brouglit  at  once  into  practical  operation. 

"We  do  not  see  that  it  could  well  begin  in  any  other  way 
than  this  which  we  have  traced,  and  so  we  believe  that  this 
is,  so  far  as  we  have  found  the  outlines,  the  true  plan  of  the 
created  rationality. 

And  now,  before  either  ot  these  agencies  [sjjirit  and  force) 
is  brought  before  us  in  any  kind  of  outward  manifestation, 
and  while  they  still  remain  alike  invisible,  and  each  alike  the 
direct  product  of  the  Creator's  power,  and  each  alike,  in  its 
own  purpose,  a  kind  of  manifestation  of  Himself,  as  One  who 
creates  all  things,  plans  all  things,  arranges  all  things,  con- 
trols all  things,  and  puts  His  thought  in  them,  and  does  all 
to  satisfy  Himself  and  carry  out  His  own  eternal  purposes — 
while  these  agencies  are  still  uncreated,  and  have  not  yet 
come  into  place — let  us  ask  again,  and  ask  for  both, — Where 
shall  their  activities  begin  ? 

When  we  asked  this  question  in  reference  to  the  spiritual 
factors  of  the  endowment,  one  of  the  objections  to  beginning 
their  activity  in  the  spiritual  kingdom  was  based  upon  the 
supposed  irresistible  potency  of  spiritual  presence,  but  now 
that  a  scheme  of  impersonal  protection  is  seen  to  be  a  part  of 
the  great  plan,  the  objection  disappears,  for  in  this  we  have 
found  what  was  needed,  and  the  whole  arrangement  of  both 


TIIK   IMTEKSOXAL.  39 

<[n-nt  and  force,  and  their  united  activities,  may  be  placed — 
for  aught  that  we  may  know— directly  in  the  spiritual  realm. 

It  is  only  that  which  is  connected  with  it  that  will  be 
affected  by  it, — and  all,  and  that  only,  which  will  be  so  con- 
nected, will  be  that  rational  endowment  that  begins  on  that 
level,  and  takes  its  first  lessons  from  created  force. 

All  that  was  necessary  as  a  protection  was  an  arrangement 
which  would  be  a  screen  to  one  party  and  not  to  the  ot'?er, — 
and  then,  if  distance  had  any  real  bearing  in  the  case,  it 
might  be  convenient  to  have  the  new  par:y  directly  in  the 
midst. 

Any  point  taken  in  space  will  be  central.  The  infinite  will 
be  about  it  on  either  hand.  The  north  and  the  south,  the 
east  and  the  west,  may  start  oft  in  their  several  directions, 
and  never  return.  The  height  and  the  depth  may  also  take 
their  departures  above  and  below,  and  may  wander  forever 
in  the  journey  before  them,  and  we  shall  never  see  them 
again.  Moreover,  this  centre  itself  may  move  on,  at  an  in- 
conceivable rate,  over  the  hollow  void,  and  still  be  the  exact 
centre  for  countless  ages  to  come.  In  regard  to  leaving  the 
spiritual  realm,  in  the  sense  of  withdrawing  from  it,  it  is 
impossible.  The  thought  is  inadmissible  as  well  as  incon- 
ceivable. There  can  be  no  such  withdrawal.  No  rationality 
constructed  in  the  spiritual  realm  can  ever  escape  from  it,  for 
its  own  being  is  spiritual  and  only  so,  and  constitutes  for 
itself  and  its  Creator  a  spiritual  realm,  wherever  it  is  and  in 
whatever  form  it  may  put  forth  its  activities  for  the  Ume 
being. 

Bat,  in  its  beginning,  this  new  and  prior  creation  is  to  be 
its  home  and  its  first  acquaintance,  and  we  stop  a  moment 
here,  to  note  the  profound  significance  of  this  new  party  in 
the  plan  of  being, — so  unlooked-for,  so  unexpected, so  entirely 
contrary  to  what  might  be  supposed  to  be  safest  and  best  for 
working  factors,  that  are  wholly  spiritual,  and  I  cannot  help 
asking  whether  the  spiritual  capacities  which  are  adapted 
for  dealing  with  this  new  agency  (although  so  diverse  from 
itself  in  most  particulars)  will  not  find  it  again  in  other 


40  THE   MENTAL   PLAX. 

realms,  but  in  a  brighter,  and  purer,  nud  more  glorious  out- 
ward manifestation, — but  still  the  same  God-created  force, — 
and  whether  in  such  diverse  forms  as  may  be  conceived  as 
eing  of  but  one  simple  element  at  the  base,  it  may  not  be 
universal  and  permanent  throughout  eternity,  changeable  in 
form  and  manifestation,  but  permanent  in  its  content,  and 
ready  always  to  set  forth,  in  that  manner,  the  will  of  its 
Creator.  "All  things  serve  Thee," — the  impersonal  as  well 
as  the  personal.  "All  Thy  works  praise  Thee,  O  God,  and 
Thy  saints  give  thanks  unto  Thee." 

We  will  now  follow  along  the  line  of  thought  in  regard  to 
this  new  party,  in  reference  to  this,  that  it  is  introduced  to 
do  a  work  which  spiritual  agency,  as  such,  cannot  do.  That 
is  why  it  appears,  and  that  only.  It  is  not  a  thing  of  caprice, 
any  more  than  the  spiritual  endowment  is  a  thing  of  caprice. 
God  creates  each  and  both  for  a  purpose,  and  the  purposes  to 
be  accomplished  and  the  positions  to  be  occupied  by  this 
impersonal  agency,  will  be  such  as  no  angel  or  archangel 
could  effect,  or  approach  in  effect.  These  purposes,  in 
addition  to  those  of  protection  and  restriction  and  freedom 
to  the  rationality,  are  exceedingly  manifold  and  varied,  and 
will  be  found  in  so  many  directions,  that  no  general  classifica- 
tion can  be  made  of  them,  except  that  they  are  to  be  for  the  use 
and  benefit  of  the  spiritual  endowment.  In  these  uses  they 
will  have  the  rare  and  incomparable  advantage  of  not  being 
rational  or  spiritual.  Their  great  and  very  peculiar  value 
will  always  lie  in  that  particular,  that  they  are  neither 
rational,  or  sensible,  or  responsible,  and  never  will  be.  They 
will  be  for  use  and  experiment,  or  enjoyment,  and  always  at 
hand.  They  will  be  silent  and  speechless,  but  faithful  and 
true  servants. 

Can  you  take  a  personality  to  pieces  ?  Can  you  analyze 
him  ?  Can  you  put  him  in  the  fire  ?  Can  you  inhale  him — 
eat  him — digest  him — pound  him  with  a  hammer — melt  him 
and  mould  him  into  form  ? — can  you  build  him  into  a  wall  ? — 
can  you,  in  short,  use  him  as  a  thing  ?  If  you  could  do  it, 
would  he  be  as  patient  with  you— as  powerless,  as  submissive, 


THE   IMPERSONAL.  41 

as  obedieiil,  as  docile,  as  completely  at  your  will,  or  as  ser- 
viceable ?  We  may  go  further.  Would  he  be  as  fixed  in  his 
integrity,  as  unyielding  in  principle,  as  inflexible  in  ob- 
servance of  law  ? 

We  may  now  inquire  h.ow  these  diverse  parties,  the  persoi;al 
and  the  impersonal,  the  rational  and  the  non-rational,  the 
free  and  the  bound,  the  self-active  and  the  inert,  the  sponta- 
neous and  the  flxed,  the  permanent  and  the  transient, — may 
be  brought  together  and  be  made  to  act  for,  and  in,  one 
personality. 

What  is  to  be  the  nature  of  the  bond,  or  attachment,  which 
will  hold  them  in  union  after  they  have  been  placed  together  ? 
How  are  two  opposites  to  be  combined  in  one,  and  how  is  the 
one  to  be  retained  by  the  other  ?  How  is  the  impersonal  to 
inclose  the  personal  and  hold  it  in  place,  and  still  be  itself 
subject,  wholly  and  absolutely,  to  the  personal  ?  The  party 
of  the  second  part  when  it  sliall  be  brought  into  view,  is  to 
be  phenomenal  and  visible — a  vast  system  of  agents  and 
agencies  made  objective  and  holding  place  and  position  in 
space.  The  party  of  the  first  part  is  to  be  a  spiritual  being, 
and  invisible.  How  shall  the  invisible  have  place,  and  con- 
tact, and  action,  in  the  visible,  and  be  attached  to  it  ?  A 
wholly  spiritual  endowment,  we  may  suppose,  would  not  stay 
a  moment  among  non-rational  force-agencies,  if  it  were  per- 
mitted to  escape.  It  would  demand  its  freedom  instantly. 
It  would  claim  its  birth-right  and  call  for  a  home  among  its 
kindred. 

This  arrangement  for  uniting  these  diverse  parties  will 
therefore  need  to  be  compulsory,  and  this  will  be  one  of  the 
specialities  of  t.he  impersonal  wherever  we  find  it,  and  one  of 
the  purposes  of  its  creation.  This  compulsory  union  will  be 
rendered  entirely  practicable,  and  the  difiiculty  wholly  re- 
moved by  tlie  condition  which  we  found  necessary  of  beginning 
at  a  low  initial  plane  of  being.  The  individual  coming  up 
into  an  experience  in  this  condition,  will  know  of  no  other 
until  he  comes  to  know  it  in  the  progress  of  his  advance,  and 
he  will  then  be  so  habituated  to  its  restricted  and  localized 


42  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

way  of  living  tliat  his  own  preference  will  generally  be,  not 
for  any  change  of  any  kind,  but  to  continue  on  in  statu  quo, 
and  this  will  be  all  that  is  desired  in  the  first  proceedings. 

But  upon  any  other  scheme  than  that  of  so  beginning,  we 
cannot  conceive  it  practicable  for  a  rational  intelligence  to 
begin  life  subject  to  such  restrictions,  and  obliged  to  find  its 
action  and  satisfaction  largely  in  its  connection  with  non- 
rational  agencies,  such  as  we  have  contemplated  in  the  party 
of  the  second  part. 

If  we  could  overlook  the  work,  as  the  Creator  brings  them 
forth  into  being,  and  places  them  together,  we  would  no 
doubt  see  that  the  force-element  (the  impersonal)  has  been  so 
formed  by  Him,  that  it  shall  be  in  nowise  antagonistic  to  the 
spirit  element,  or  contrary  to  it  in  any  way,  and  although  it 
will  be  restrictive,  it  will  be  so  helpful,  and  so  obedient,  and 
serviceable,  and  enjoyable,  the  parties,  although  diverse,  will 
soon  come  to  the  best  of  understanding  and  good  fellowship. 

But  in  what  way  they  Avill  connect  and  react  upon  each 
other,  and  by  what  subtle  bond  they  will  be  held,  during 
their  term  of  mutual  association,  and  by  what  common  law 
between  agencies  so  opposite  they  will  come  into  one  act,  and 
follow  one  will,  and  become  one  person,  will  be  known  only 
to  Him  who  creates  them,  and  places  them  together  in  one 
personality. 

In  searching  for  the  particulars  in  the  plan  of  the  endow- 
ment, we  have  to  look  forward  into  the  future,  and  endeavor 
to  take  in  that  which  is  to  be— or  come  to  pass— and  so  find 
the  contents  with  which  the  endowment  must  or  may  become 
acquainted,  and  so  be  able  to  say  what  it  is  that  will  be 
needed  as  faculty  for  this,  and  this,  and  this,  which  we  have 
found  in  the  realm  of  being.  If  it  be  objected  to  this  method 
of  determining  the  make-up  of  the  endowment,  that  we  can- 
not look  into  eternity,  and  so  there  may  be  faculties  specially 
adapted  for  a  higher  range,  that  cannot  be  developed  on  a 
lower  line,  and  therefore  the  endowment,  as  a  whole,  cannot 
now  be  determined, — we  reply,  the  conditions  we  have  found 
make  distinct  provision  for  an  indefinite  increase  and  ex- 


TIIK  IMPERSOXAL.  4,'? 

pansiou  of  bein^,  and  having  begun  at  the  b.;se— at  the  lowest 
level— there  is  nothing  beneath  it  that  will  not  have  been 
reached,  and  from  that  level  it  is  always  lo  be  ascending, 
and  each  step  from  the  foundation  is  an  upward  step,  and 
will  bring  all  into  view  that  conies  within  tlie  range  of  its 
vision.  Its  appointments,  therefore,  may  be  supposed  to  be 
complete,  at  the  start,  for  the  whole  journey,  and  the  steps 
may  be  so  connected  that  tjiey  will  traverse  the  whole  ground — 
and,  moreover,  the  constitution  of  all  agencies,  both  personal 
and  impersonal,  may  be  such  that  the  highest  rest  upon  the 
lowest,  in  this  sense,  that  the  highest  can  only  be  reached 
from  the  lowest,  and  so  the  only  safe  and  sure  method  is  to 
begin  at  the  beginning,  and  so,  by  holding  all  that  is  beneath, 
all  that  is  above  must  come  hito  view  in  the  ascending 
movement,  and  more  intelligently  and  enjoyably  that  it 
follows  up  its  own  plan  of  being,  according  to  the  conditions 
found. 

Perhaps  we  may  understand  it  better  if  we  say  that  as 
spirit,  it  has  (potentially)  all  that  spirit  can  receive  or  do, 
and  that  what  we  call  faculty  is  only  a  method  of  the  spirit 
action,  but  as  spirit,  God-created  and  God-sustained,  it  must 
contain  within  itself  the  beginning  of  all  that  it  is  ever  to  be 
or  to  enjoy,  and  that  therefore  its  rational  endowment  will 
be  complete  and  finished  at  the  start.  It  carries  all  from  the 
beginning. 

We  shall  not  be  likely  to  go  wrong  in  the  search,  if  we  bear 
in  mind,  constantly,  that  the  condition  of  increase  does  not 
merely  admit,  but  demands  a  development  and  expansion  of 
power  and  capacity,  and  further,  that  this  expansion  must 
take  place  according  to  its  own  structural  laws,  and  that 
those  laws  are  the  laws  of  spirit. 

But  spirit  is  unchangeable, — and  if  ,at  any  advanced  period 
of  a  spiritual  being,  a  faculty  is  added  in,  it  must  be  like  or 
unlike  what  it  previously  contained.  If  like  to  the  other 
faculties,  it  may  reach  this  by  its  own  increase  of  what  it 
begins  with,  and  if  unlike,  then  it  would  be  something  other 
than  spiritual,  and  could  not  be  admitted,  or,  if  admitted, 


44  THE   MEKTAL   PLAN. 

could  not  come  into  permanent  union  with  it — for  "  that  which 
is  born  of  the  spirit  is  spirit,"  and  has  its  own  homogeneous 
unity  in  its  component  elements,  once  and  forever,  without 
change. 

The  endowment,  therefore,  will  reach  all  that  can  be 
reached  by  spiritual  factors,  from  the  condition  of  increase, 
and  that  enlargement  which  will  come  to  it,  in  this,  that 
the  restriction  with  which  it  begins  its  first  experience  will 
be  removed,  as  fast  as  it  has  properly  prepared  itself  for  a 
wider  horizon  and  for  higher  activities  in  the  spiritual 
realm. 

It  will  be  as  necessary  that  this  restriction  should  be 
removed,  at  the  proper  time,  as  it  was  that  it  should  be 
placed  in  it,  and  round  about  it,  at  the  beginning.  That  this 
will  be  a  great  and  wonderful  event  in  the  history  of  every 
rationality,  and  quite  beyond  our  conception,  there  is  no 
room  to  doubt — but  there  will  be  no  addition  of  faculty,  or 
need  of  it,  if  the  plan,  as  we  have  found  it,  is  the  true  plan 
of  being. 

TVe  may  now  proceed  to  designate  other  particulars  in  the 
plan,  not  yet  examined.  We  found  the  three  primal  con- 
ditions of  rational  being  in  (1)  the  immutability  of  the  ele- 
ments, (2)  their  increase,  and  (3)  their  beginning  at  the  first 
of  the  series, — or,  as  we  termed  it,  the  lowest  level  at  which 
a  rational  factor  could  find  anything  to  do.  Also,  that  the 
endowment  will  be  spiritual  in  its  content,  free,  self-active, 
and  of  so  great  potency  as  spiritual  being  as  to  require  some 
kind  of  limit  and  restriction,  and  that  for  this  and  other  mani- 
fold purposes,  another  agency  would  need  to  be  first  created, 
and  put  in  place,  and  prepared  for  the  spiritual  endowment, 
before  it  could  properly  and  rationally  begin  its  activity. 
This  impersonal,  non-rational,  and  non-spiritual  agency,  we 
also  designated  the  party  of  the  second  part.  We  have  shown 
that  the  two  parties  must,  in  some  manner,  be  brought 
together  to  act  as  one,  and  have  determined,  as  far  as  it  can 
be  determined,  that  the  whole  endowment  will  be  found,  if 
we  find  that  which  it  is,  at  the  beginning.    There  wiU  be  no 


THE  IMPERSONAL.  45 

subsequent  change,  whether  by  addition  or  reduction  of 
faculty,  as  such,  and  the  only  change  of  any  kind  will  be  in 
that  which  comes  from  the  use  of  the  powers  given  at  the 
beginning. 

We  now  proceed,  with  these  particulars  only  in  hand,  to 
look  for  others  that  will  be  needed  to  complete  the  endow- 
ment, and  in  this,  again,  we  must  go  back  to  such  sub- 
conditions  as  may  be  found  in  these  which  we  now  have. 

Early  in  the  discussion ,  we  pointed  out  the  very  peculiar 
state  of  the  endowment  in  its  beginning,  as  having  all  things 
to  receive  from  some  external  source,  so  that  all  its  operations, 
for  some  time,  at  least,  would  be  outside  of  itself.  When  a 
home  has  been  created  for  it,  and  a  body  prepared,  and  all 
its  arrangements  for  receiving  impressions  have  been  put  in 
good  working  order,  if  it  has  no  companions — if  it  begins 
and  goes  on  alone,  with  only  the  companionship  of  the 
Impersonal,  the  endowment,  however  full,  will  lack  the 
motive  for  action  along  the  line  of  all  that  is  social,  recip- 
rocal, and  spiritually  emotional,  and  so  the  practical  result 
will  be  that  it  will  not  come  into  its  own  full  developed  powers, 
and  will  only,  or  chiefly,  come  out  into  a  low,  animal  life. 

This  would  be  a  proper  place  for  us  to  notice  the  bearing  of 
all  social  and  educational  influences  in  this  particular — but 
our  method  only  permits  us  to  glance  at  it,  and  pass  on. 

We  find,  then,  that  there  cannot  be  a  plan  for  one,  unless 
the  plan  for  one  is  also  the  plan  for  many, — for  countless 
hosts — thousands  and  thousands  and  ten  times  thousands — 
and  that  there  should  be  one  endowment,  there  must  be 
many.    This  gives  us  several  important  sub-conditions. 

First,  it  introduces  relationship.  Second,  in  order  that  the 
relationship  may  help  in  the  plan,  there  must  be  likeness. 
The  elemental  content  being  always  the  same  in  the  endow- 
ment, it  is  entirely  practicable  to  Him  who  creates  it  to 
multiply  the  numbers  at  His  own  option,  and  to  create  them 
in  this  relationship,  and  in  this  likeness,  and  subject  to  all 
the  conditions  found. 

So,  also,  as  to  any  locality,  the  numbers  and  the  multitudes 


46  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

will  be  needed,  if  a  place  is  to  be  prepared  and  a  system  of 
things  adapted  for  a  temporary  habitation.  This  will  occupy 
so  much  space,  will  be  so  vast  and  huge,  and  will  call  for  so 
great  an  outlay  and  expenditure  of  forces, — the  smallest 
possible  dimensions  which  can  be  constructed,  with  the 
necessary  outfit,  will  be  sufficient  for  countless  numbers,  and 
will  as  easily  make  provision  for  countless  numbers,  as  for 
one  individual — and  more  especially  so  if  the  parties  hold  the 
premises  but  a  short  period  and  make  room  for  others,  as 
they  also  shall  appear  and  come  into  place. 

We  must  therefore  enlarge  our  conceptions  at  this  stand- 
point, and  before  the  elements  of  the  rational  endowment 
are  determined  and  take  position  in  a  personality,  and 
before  the  plan  can  be  considered  as  found,  we  are  to  consider 
it  in  the  light  of  this  relationship  to  others.  We  are  to  have 
before  us,  and  to  comprehend  in  the  great  plan,  not  this 
single  individual  only,  but  a  great  host  which  no  man  can 
number,  and  this,  also,  in  reference  to  any  possible  future 
that  is  before  them. 

If,  in  this  comprehension,  we  find  and  take  in,  as  one 
whole,  all  that  will  be  involved  in  that  relationship,  and  in 
that  prior,  and  higher,  and  nearer  relationship  to  its  Creator, 
(including  that  union  of  being  with  Him  that  is  permanent, 
and  constant,  and  instant,  and  eternal),  then,  in  such  com- 
prehension, we  shall  have  all  the  elements  of  the  rational 
endowment,  and  the  plan,  in  its  initial  completeness,  will  be 
found. 

For  if  this  endowment  is  ever  permitted  and  empowered  to 
enter  into  the  presence  and  have  free  and  joyful  communion 
with  Him  who  brought  it  forth  into  being,  it  will  not  be 
likely  to  stumble  in  any  intercourse  with  angels,  and  princi- 
palities, and  dominions,  and  other  orders,  however  exalted, 
seeing  that  they  are  all  far  beneath  Him,  who  sits  upon  the 
throne  and  rules  over  all. 

We  now  proceed  again,  in  the  search  for  other  particulars, 
and  first,  we  have  this  of  likeness — already  seen  in  connection 
with  relationship — and  it  may  be  sufficient  to  establish  this 


TlIK    IMPEKSONAL.  4< 

as  a  condition,  that  we  find  it  already  in  the  content  of  the 
endowment,  as  spirit,  for  this  content  is  the  same  in  the 
Creator,  and  in  all  rationalities,  and  is  the  Fame  in  all,  at  the 
beginning,  in  all  unused,  newly-created  rational  endow- 
ments. 

In  the  sense  here  used,  it  is  more  than  likeness— it  is 
identity, — but  inasmuch  as  it  is  a  separate  personality  that  is 
to  use  the  powers  given  in  the  endowment,  the  identity  goes 
no  further  than  the  spiritual  content  in  the  original  endow- 
ment— beyond  that,  and  immediately  on  putting  forth  any 
such  spiritual  activity,  another  personality  comes  into  being. 
The  identity  then  ceases,  and  tliis  new  person,  just  created, 
will  begin  at  once  in  making  up  a  self,  and  putting  in  his 
own  will,  and  his  own  desire,  and  his  own  thought,  and  will 
so  enter  at  once  upon  a  line  of  action  strictly  his  own — not 
another's — or  the  Creator's — but  his  own.  and  so  will  introduce 
a  diversity,  which  may  or  may  not  harmonize  with  the  thought , 
or  desire,  or  will  of  others,  or  the  Creator's.  Now  it  is  con- 
ditional for  each  rational  endowment — seeing  that  diversities 
greater  or  less  must  appear,  even  when  they  begin  with  a 
positive  identity  in  the  elements  of  their  being — that  the 
methods  of  their  activity,  in  the  several  faculties  and 
capacities,  shall  all  have  in  themselves  the  same  unchanging 
identity  which  they  have  as  spiritual  factors,  and  subject  to 
their  own  unchanging  laws,  and  be  the  same  in  all  endow- 
ments. There  must  be  this  likeness  in  all  personalities,  and 
it  is  further  necessarv  for  all  the  purposes  of  fellowship  and 
reciprocity,  and  even  for  the  proper  development  of  the 
powers  given . 

If  any  further  proof  is  needed  of  the  same  condition  of 
likeness  to  the  Creator,  (as  a  condition  of  the  endowment),  it 
may  be  seen  in  this,  (1)  that  the  Creator  does  not  at  any  time 
separate  Himself  from  it— that  He  retains  an  interest  in  it, 
so  to  speak,  and  a  much  larger  interest  in  it  than  any  other 
person  in  the  Universe, — (2)  that  if  He  creates  it  a  rational 
endowment  —  and  not  an  impersonal,  non-rational,  non- 
spiritual  thing  of  mere  use  and  convenience,  or  some  form  of 


48  THE   MENTAL   TLAN. 

an  organized  life,  governed  chiefly  by  instinct — then,  in  such 
case,  He  cannot  create  it  in  any  other  than  His  own  likeness. 
It  is  not  a  question  whether  He  will  so  create  it.  It  is  clearly 
seen  that  if  he  creates  a  rational  endowment,  it  must  be  in 
His  own  likeness. 

Seeing  this  is  so,  it  is  perfectly  certain  that  the  faculties 
given  will  be  such  as  can  have  rational  intercourse  and  com- 
munication with  Him,  even  from  the  beginning,  and  that 
the  restrictions  under  which  they  put  forth  their  activities 
in  the  initial  life,  will  have  been  wisely  ordered  by  Him  to 
promote  a  true  communion  and  fellowship,  and  be  a  true 
and  ever-present  pledge  and  witness  of  His  unseen  presence. 

The  condition  which  next  presents  itself  is  that  of  duration. 

If  it  is  proper  that  a  rational  eudowm<?nt  shall  begin,  it  is 
equally  proper  that  it  shall  continue.  Having  inherent  and 
constant  value  in  its  elements,  it  must  go  on.  The  moment 
a  rationality  comes  into  beiDg,  it  has  a  claim  upon  eternity. 
No  one  can  dispute  the  claim.    No  one  will  withhold  it. 

If  there  was  a  reason  for  being  brought  into  place  when  as 
yet  it  was  not,  much  more  when  placed  in  being  and 
endowed  with  a  constant  value  must  it  continue  and  accu- 
mulate forever  additional  reasons  for  receiving  and  holding 
the  power  of  an  endless  life.  Moreover,  its  constitution  calls 
for  it.  The  prior  condition  of  increase  opens  the  door  into 
the  future,  and  clemands  endless  duration. 

It  would  be  a  departure  from  our  method  to  pass  through 
this  open  door  into  the  future  and  anticipate  the  onward 
journey.  We  note  only  this— that  the  elements  of  the 
rational  endowment  are  now  seen  to  have  their  proper  home 
in  eternity— and  they  cannot  be  fully  determined,  or  even 
indicated  in  outline,  imtil  they  can  be  seen  to  be  such  as  are 
fitted,  or  will  be  fitted,  for  an  endless  duration.  Their 
adaptation  to  this,  in  all  particulars,  and  in  each  one  of  the 
constituent  faculties  in  the  one  personality,  must  be  perfect 
from  the  beginning,  complete,  finished,  as  living,  working, 
self-acting  elements,  already  entered  upon  an  endless  life. 

We  will  now  inquire  Avhat  will  be  conditional  that  the 


THE  IMPERSONAL,.  49 

endowment  shall  be  eternal,  and  in  finding  these  a  priori 
conditions  for  that  which  is  to  be  eternal,  we  shall  reach 
other  particulars  of  the  greatest  importance. 

1.  It  will  not  be  sufficient  that  the  Creator  has  found  it,  or 
brought  it  into  being,  for  He  has  created  agencies  that 
evidently  reach  their  limit  of  existence  and  then  disappear. 
It  will  need,  therefore,  that  the  content  of  the  rational 
endowment  shall  be  wholly  different  from  any  such  agency, 
and  (2)  it  will  need  that  it  shall  have  that  within  it,  that 
instead  of  coming  to  any  limit  of  its  term,  will  always  be 
pushing  on  indefinitely  into  the  future,  and  (3)  conditional 
for  that,  it  will  need  to  be  an  ever-present  energy  [evspyia], 
not  always  working,  but  ready,  on  occasion,  to  work  with  or 
without  ceasing,  through  any  imaginable  duration,  and  (4) 
conditional  for  that,  it  will  need  to  be  a  tireless  energy,  utterly 
without  any  sense  of  weariness  in  its  activities,  (except  as 
it  may  be  brought  into  a  temporary  sensible  arrangement  for 
certain  wise  purposes,  in  an  organic  form) ,  and  (5)  conditional 
for  a  tireless  energy,  it  must  be  spontaneous  and  self-active, 
and  so  without  any  sense  of  effort,  in  its  own  special  field  of 
action,  as  spiritual  efficiency  or  power,  and  only  made  sensible 
of  effort,  by  being  placed  in  connection  with  .an  organism 
specially  prepared  for  it,  for  that  and  other  purposes  of  a 
temporary  kind,  (6)  and  las'ly,  it  must  not  be  capable  of  loss 
or  decrease  in  the  slightest  degree,  by  what  we  may  call  the 
wear  and  tear  of  its  activities — i.  e.,  there  must  be  no  wear 
and  tear.  All  these  conditions  must  be  found  in  that  which 
is  to  be  eternal,  and  all  these  are  found  in  the  elements  of 
the  endowment,  as  spirit,  and  may  be  more  distinctly  traced 
ill  the  first  three  conditions  which  we  found,  as  primal  and 
fundamental  for  a  rational  endowment. 

We  have  also  a  strong  inferential  proof,  in  these  particulars, 
of  the  exceeding  potency  of  the  endowment,  in  its  content  as 
spirit,  and  we  may  say  that  this  spiritual  potency  is  also 
conditional  for  the  eternal  duration. 

We  may  also  conceive  that  all  the  successions  of  time, 
(seeing  that  in  the  forward  movement,  and  in  the  increase  of 


50  THE   MENTAL   PLA>r. 

being,  they  are  always  progressing,  and  not  retrograding), 
will  more  and  more  separate  the  endowment  from  non- 
being, — and  it  is  non-being  only  that  can  halt  and  stop  the 
proceedings. 

We  have  now  before  us  all  the  conditions  of  a  rational 
intelligence,  which  we  may  state  in  these  terms,  to  wit : 
The  constituents  of  the  endowment  must  be  (1)  immutable, 
(2)  subject  to  increase,  (3)  must  begin  at  the  lowest  level  of 
rational  activity,  (4)  must  be  spiritual  in  their  content,  (5) 
must  be  self-active  and  free,  (6)  will  be  of  inconceivable 
potency,  (7)  will  need  a  restriction  within  limits,  and  this  to 
be  compulsory  and  permanent  for  a  limited  first  term  of  life ; 
(8)  the  content  of  this  restriction  will  be  physical  force, 
suitable  as  the  basis  of  an  organized  form,  in  which  the 
endowment  can  begin  its  activity,  and  also  be  a  basis  for  a 
world-form  or  cosmos,  in  which  certain  great  primary  truths 
and  laws  can  be  permanently  placed  for  its  study  and 
experience;  (9)  will  call  for  associates  and  companions, 
introducing  relationship  and  likeness;  and  (10)  will  be  of 
eternal  duration. 

These  conditions  will  embody  methods  of  activity,  in  wliich 
the  best  of  different  methods,  in  each  case,  will  be  its  law, 
and  this  will  result  in  a  system  of  laws  growing  from  the 
facts  of  being  and  of  experience,  as  they  make  their  appear- 
ance. Whether  there  be  a  cosmos  of  impersonal  forces  or  not, 
the  rationality  will  not  hold  its  own  in  a  system  of  chaos. 
Its  own  structure,  therefore,  first  of  all,  will  be  a  structure 
of  law  and  order. 

But  the  ordered  cosmos  of  force  must  itself  be  orderly,  and 
this  order  we  may  also  designate  "  law." 

We  shall  then  have,  prospectively,  laws  of  being — to  wit : 
of  the  rational  and  the  non-rational,  spirit  and  force. 

These  laws  of  being  must  now  indicate  and  prescribe  the 
endowment— the  formula  for  which,  at  this  stand-point,  we 
may  place  in  these  terms,  to  wit :  the  endowment  must  be  a 
capacity  to  receive  and  interpret  the  facts  and  latcs  of  being. 
At  a  further  advance  this  formula  will  need  to  be  enlarged. 


THE   IMPERSONAL.  51 

"We  will  now  give  a  condensed  statement  of  what  the 
Mental  Plan  will  call  for,  according  to  the  conditions  found 
in  their  time-order— which  is  precisely  the  reverse  of  the 
order  in  which  we  have  examined  them. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE  CONDITIONS  IN   THEIR   TIME-ORDER. 

I.  The  Mental  Plan  calls  for,  first  of  all,— a  prepared 
cosmos  of  force  elements — 

1.  Por  the  purpose  of  placing,  permanently  and  imper- 
sonally, before  the  interpreting  faculties  such  facts  and  laws 
of  being  as  can  be  presented  in  outward  form ; 

2.  For  the  purpose  of  teaching  these  facts  and  laws,  in 
these  permanent  symbols,  without  gloss  or  comment ; 

3.  For  the  purpose  of  executing  upon  the  endowment,  im- 
personally and  impartially,  the  penalties  of  their  violation  ; 

4.  For  the  purpose  of  securing,  in  impersonal  elements,  a 
changing,  dissoluble  organization,  for  the  imchanging,  in- 
dissoluble personality ; 

5.  For  the  purpose  of  providing  (1)  adequate  protection 
from  the  irresistible  potency  of  spiritual  presence,  (2)  a  proper 
restriction  for  the  first  activities  of  the  endowment,  (3)  a  full 
security  within  such  restrictions  for  entire  freedom  in  all  its 
activities ; 

6.  For  the  purpose  of  permitting  the  endowment,  from  its 
first  inception,  to  co-operate  largely  and  freely  in  its  own 
construction ; 

7.  For  the  purpose  of  securing,  to  this  extent,  through 
impersonal  agents,  a  foreknowledge  of  the  plans  and  purposes 
of  the  unseen  Creator. 

II.  The  Mental  Plan  calls  for  a  rational  endowment — 
1.  "Which  shall  be  a  free,  spontaneous,  self -active  spiritual 
capacity  to  receive  and  interpret  the  facts  and  laws  embodied 
(52) 


THE  CONDITIONS  IN   THEIR   TIME-ORDEK.  53 

in  all  the  forms  of  cosmical  force,  and  in  its  own  spiritual 
content  and  structure ; 

2.  "VVliich  sliall  be,  in  its  adaptation,  complete  both  for 
things  visible  and  invisible,  and  in  its  elements  unchangeable 
and  eternal. 

III.  As  both  of  these  created  agencies,  spirit  and  force,' 
■will  be  composed  of  certain  active  elements  of  peculiar 
potency,  the  plan  of  being  will  require  that  their  diversity 
shall  not  be  of  a  kind  which  will  preclude  their  acting 
together  in  an  organism  designed  for  that  purpose.  As  all 
force  is  the  product  of  spiritual  power,  it  may  be  expected 
that  a  spiritual  endowment,  placed,  with  living  vital  force, 
in  an  organism  of  forces,  may  act  upon  it  with  great  efficiency^ 
if  they  can  become  somewhat  reciprocal,  and  as  force  itself 
will  be  an  active  agent,  equally  tireless  and  ceaseless  in  its 
activities,  w^e  may  expect,  in  such  ;i  connection,  incessant 
acthn  and  re-action  between  them,  as  long  as  the  parties  con- 
tinue together. 

IV.  This  constant  interplay  and  reciprocity  may  be  utilized 
to  bring  to  the  endowment  through  the  medium  of  certain 
organic  arrangements  a  formal  knowledge  of  all  such  facts 
and  laws  as  can  be  set  forth  in  the  great  varieties  of  outward 
manifestation  in  the  cosmos,  and  in  reference  to  this  kind  of 
activity  a  body  may  be  constructed  on  a  system  of  supply 
and  demand,  the  supply  occasional  and  the  loss  constant, 
which  will  make  the  organic  force  variable  and  subject  to 
great  changes,  and  great  reduction  in  its  efficiency. 

There  will  then  be  not  only  a  constant  limit  to  the  activity 
of  the  endowment  in  the  maximum  of  the  organic  capacity 
at  its  highest  energy,  but  also  the  fact  of  occasional  loss  and 
great  reduction  of  the  organic  power — and  a  sense  of  effort 
and  weariness,  in  any  call  made  upon  it,  may  in  this  manner 
be  brought  to  the  endowment. 

As  the  greatest  and  most  fundamental  want  of  the  newly- 
created  rational  factors,  because  of  their  potency,  will  be  that 
of  restriction  within  narrow  limits,  and  a  frequent  cessation 
and  halt  in  their  proceedings,  this  imperfect  organism— per- 


54  THE   MENTAL    PLAN. 

feet  for  its  special  purpose,  but  imperfect  for  a  constant  and 
ceaseless  activity — will  be  precisely  adapted  to  accomplish 
these  ends.  In  this  the  fiery  spirit  may  be  curbed,  and  trained, 
and  disciplined,  till  it  acquires  self-knowledge  and  self- 
control,  and  so  be  fitted  for  a  larger  liberty,  and  an  un- 
interrupted and  continuous  action  on  other  premises  to  be 
provided  for  it. 

It  will  be  requisite  that  all  truths,  principles  and  laws 
set  forth  in  the  cosmos,  shall  be  without  shadow  of  change, 
presenting  themselves  immutably  the  same  to  all  generations, 
the  bodily  organs  reporting  them,  without  any  interference 
of  their  own,  or  any  comment,  to  the  interpreting  faculties 
within,  and  as  it  has  been  necessary  that  the  powers  of  the 
rationality  should  be  created  and  continued  on  in  being  by 
Him  who  gives  them  place — so  the  world,  which  He  creates 
and  puts  in  place  as  the  field  of  their  activity,  must  be  the 
product  of  His  own  power  and  will. 

These  elementary  (acts,  and  truths,  and  principles,  cannot 
be  intrusted  to  the  personal  statements  of  individuals,  but 
must  be  immutably  fixed  in  that  which  is  impersonal,  and 
which  can  make  no  change,  and  have  no  power  to  touch  or 
infringe  upon  its  exactness  of  form,  its  perfectness  and  finish, 
its  unchanging  reality,  its  validity,  its  eternal  truth.  ISTone 
but  impersonal  agencies  can  have  a  trust  so  important, 
and  no  one  can  place  them  and  keep  them  in  place  but  the 
Creator. 

This  organism,  being  composed  of  these  impersonal  ele- 
ments, can  return  to  them  again,  after  its  purposes  have 
been  accomplished,  and  the  endowment  can  then  take  its 
place  in  an  organism,  in  which,  if  there  be  a  system  of  supply 
and  demand,  they  will  be  kept  precisely  equivalent,  and  the 
embodied  force  will  be  more  like  the  endowment,  in  some- 
thing more  approximate  to  its  own  spiritual  content.  This 
will  be  a  spiritual  body,  and  in  this  the  life  may  be  con- 
tinuous and  non-intermittent. 

V.  The  formula  for  the  endowment,  having  reference  to 
the  facts  and  laws  of  being,  it  must  follow  that  these  facts 


THE   CONDITIONS    IN    TJIEIIl    TIME-ORDER.  55 

• 

and  laws— to  wit,  that  which  is  visible  and  otherwise  present- 
able in  this  outward  world  of  force  and  life  agencies,  and 
that  which  is  also  invisible  in  them,  and  in  the  great  unseen 
realm  of  that  which  is  self-active  and  causal — will  prescribe 
and  limit  tlie  power,  scope  and  number  of  the  faculties  in 
the  endowment. 

VI.  The  Mental  Plan  will  then  require  that  this 
endowment  shall  take  its  place  amid  these  impersonal  agen- 
cies, in  a  flexible,  living,  organized  body, — the  spiritual  with 
the  non-spiritual,  the  rational  with  the  non-rational,  the 
responsible  witli  tlie  irresi>onsible,  the  personal  with  the 
impersonal,  and  the  sensible  with  the  insensible,  in  one 
initial  life. 

The  methods  in  which  the  activities  will  take  place  will  be 
varied,  and  complex,  and  progressive.  The  outlines  of  these 
methods,  merely  sketching  the  plan,  we  shall  proceed  to 
give  in  the  next  chapter,  from  the  facts  of  experience,  but 
with  a  reference  to  the  conditions  which  we  have  already 
found. 

YII.  In  this  organization  another  agency  will  be  needed, 
which  shall  establish  and  continue  the  connection  and  the 
reciprocity  between  these  diverse  creations,  and  so  bring 
forth  in  them  a  mutual,  practical  co-operation,  the  methods 
and  laws  of  which  shall  be  made  constant  and  uniform.  A 
separate  agency  is  needed,  inasmuch  as  the  cosmical  elements 
are  to  be  impersonal  and  non-rational ;  and  as  we  have  seen 
that  the  Creator,  in  bringing  them  forth  to  represent  and 
execute  law,  will  exclude  from  them  any  interpreting  faculty, 
so,  in  like  manner,  if  the  organism  is  to  be  composed  of  these 
same  cosmical  elements,  no  organizing  faculty,  which  thinks, 
and  plans,  and  provides  for  its  own  activities,  can  be  looked 
for  in  such  agencies. 

On  the  other  hand,  no  such  thinking,  and  planning,  and 
providing,  in  reference  to  its  own  impersonal  organization, 
can  be  looked  for  in  an  endowment  that  is  to  start  with  a 
mere  capacity  for  thinking  and  planning,  inasmuch  as  this 
very  capacity  can  only  begin  its  activities  after  it  has  itself 


50  THE   IMENTAL   PLAN. 

the  full  equipment  for  such  exercises,  an  important  part  of 
which  will  be  this  organization  of  impersonal  forces  in  which 
it  is  to  have  its  place  and  method  of  operations. 

There  will,  therefore,  be  the  same  necessity  here  for  a 
separate  agency,  such  as  we  have  seen  necessary  in  regard  to 
the  representation  and  execution  of  law  in  impersonal  forces, 
which  shall  do  perfect  work,  and  do  it  unceasingly  through 
all  the  appointed  period  of  the  organic  union,  and  provide 
instantly  for  innumerable  contingencies,  all  unseen  and  often 
unknown  and  unimagined  by  the  main  party.  This  agency 
not  being  in  the  cosmical  elements,  or  in  any  rational 
endowment  which  has  its  beginning  as  stated,  there  is  but 
one  Person  who  can  do  the  work,  and  that  is  the  One  who 
creates  both  the  personal  and  the  impersonal,  and  will  make 
all  the  prior  arrangements  for  their  united  activities  in  the 
plan  of  their  creation. 

But  as  it  will  still  be  necessary  that  the  creating  Power 
shall  not  be  personally  or  sensibly  present,  the  work  done  and 
carried  on  by  Him  will  be  through  and  in  these  impersonal 
agencies.  The  wise,  intelligent  directing  agency,  placed  in 
the  impersonal  organic  forcis  in  the  living  body,  will  be  acting 
in  fixed,  immutable  laws,  placed  in  these  forces,  and  always 
from  the  un?een  Creator,  and  no  other. 

It  will  further  be  necessary  that  He  who  makes  this  con- 
nection shall,  in  the  very  plan  of  the  connection,  include  the 
plan  of  a  separation  at  an  appointed  time.  The  protection 
and  restriction  for  which  this  connection  was  designed,  and 
all  the  involved  discipline  of  all  the  faculties  will  have 
fulfilled  their  purposes,  and  may  then  be  exchanged  for  a 
larger  liberty  and  wider  scope,  and  in  a  state  and  realm  that 
may  then  be  perpetual  and  without  end. 

yill.  The  work  of  the  impersonal  agencies  being  designed 
wholly  for  the  use  and  benefit  of  the  personal,  we  are  by  no 
means  to  look  for  any  antagonism  between  them.  They 
must  come  forth  so  far  different  in  their  elements,  purposes 
and  activities,  that  one  shall  command  and  the  other  shall 
serve,  but  so  far  similar  as  to  permit  and  provide  for  a 


Tin:   CONDITIOXS   IN    THEIR    TI3IE-OIIDER.  oT 

positive  effective  action  and  re-action  upon  each  other ;  but 
us  the  personal  will  be  invisible,  it  will  be  quite  useless  to 
expect  that  the  manner  of  its  action  upon  the  visible 
organism  will  ever  come  into  view. 

But  the  impersonal  forces  Avill  also  be  invisible,  and 
equally  hidden  away  in  their  own  being,  with  this  difference, 
that  they  will  occupy  space  and  form,  and  so  may  become, 
outwardly,  objects  of  organic  perception. 

The  facts  presented,  therefoi'e,  will  be  invisible,  free, 
personal  agencies,  placed  among  fixed  invisible  forces — the 
latter  acting  in  and  under  permanent  laws,  and  in  form,  and 
capable  of  being  perceived  through  organs  made  of  the  same 
materials,  and  designed  for  that  purpose. 

IX.  The  impersonal  force  element,  having  been  created 
for  the  purpose  (among  many  others,  also,)  of  a  compulsory 
restriction  to  the  powers  given  in  the  rationality,  will 
positively  exclude  immediate  (visible)  spiritual  presence,  and 
its  own  expression  will  have  to  be  made  through  these  im- 
personal elements,  and  be  placed  in  symbolic  form.  All 
created  personalities  of  this  order  will  have  to  be  content,  in 
their  first  term  of  life,  with  symbols  in  all  their  communi- 
cations with  each  other, — not  because  there  may  not  be 
another  way  more  direct,  which  they  may  come  into  at  a 
further  advance, — but  because  for  the  beginning  of  that 
which  has  had  no  prior  experience,  it  will  be  better  to  go  by 
rule,  and  form,  and  limit,  and  definition. 

The  restriction  of  spiritual  being  to  such  formal  limits  and 
precise  definitions  will  be  very  severe,  and,  we  may  say, 
unnatural,  but  it  will  be  the  only  way  of  coming  up  into  a 
larger  liberty,  with  safety,  and  the  only  way,  also,  of  securing 
a  permanent  and  solid  basis  for  further  proceedings. 

This  union  of  the  endowment,  therefore,  with  an  organic 
body  of  elements  other  than  its  own,  compels  it  to  act  through 
its  methods — to  receive  through  its  methods — and  to  transfer,  or 
give  to  another,  its  thought — through  its  incthods, — and  all  these 
are  symbolic — put  in  permanent  form. 

So,  also,  its  organs  are  restricted  to  the  perception  of 


58  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

things  near  by  and  close  at  hand — not  to  perceive  all  things, 
but  a  little  at  a  time. 

On  the  other  hand,  the  action  of  the  creating  Spirit  on  the 
created  spirit,  and  the  response  of  the  latter,  may  be  with 
or  with^out  symbols,  according  to  the  nature  of  the  trans- 
actions. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  MENTAL   STRUCTURE. 

Beceptive,  Emotional,  Betentive,  Constructive,  Intuitive, 
Judicial,  Executive. 

The  endowment  is  to  begin  as  a  blank  capacity,  and  calls 
or  something  which  it  can  receive — something  which  it  can 
deal  with.    How  is  it  to  be  managed  ? 

Can  it  be  helped  by  another,  and  in  what  way  ? 

Speech,  or  language,  is  artificial,  symbolic— and  cannot  be 
given  in  the  endowment.  Speech,  therefore,  cannot  help  it 
any  until  it  is  interpreted,  and  this  comes  slowly  and  by 
practice  and  very  frequent  repetition. 

But  the  communication  has  got  to  be  by  symbols,  and 
therefore  symbols  must  be  constructed  in  forms  other  than 
words  or  tones ;  and  these,  instead  of  making  a  transient 
impression  like  a  spoken  word,  may  continue  to  make  it 
without  ceasing,  provided  the  symbolic  form  is  fixed  and 
permanent. 

If,  therefore,  word  statements  will  be  of  no  account  to  a 
newly-created  endowment,  these  permanent  forms  can  pre- 
sent themselves  continually,  with  their  own  unspoken  state- 
ments, repeating  them  incessantly  to  the  stranger  just 
coming  up  into  being,  always  giving  the  same  thought,  in  the 
same  symbols,  and  expressing  the  same  fact,  over  and  over, 
and  without  the  shadow  of  a  change.  All  this  will  be  sym- 
bolic, but  fixed  and  unchanging.  Human  speech,  will  never 
reach  the  perfectness  of  these  symbols — therefore  these,  which 
are  perfect,  must  have  the  preference  and  the  precedence ;  and. 
(59) 


60  THE  MENTAL   PLAN. 

that  we  find  to  be  the  exact  arrangement  in  the  construction- 
of  the  rationality. 

We  begin ,  now,  with  an  examination  of  this  method  of 
teaching  by  symbols. 

As  this  subject  will  be  further  examined  in  reference  to 
worship  and  spiritual  baptism,  in  the  closing  chapter,  what 
we  here  give  will  serve  as  an  outline  of  the  ground-work  in 
the  plan. 

It  will  be  readily  understood  that  the  new-born  child, 
which  has  had  no  prior  beginning,  and  which  comes  up  into 
being  without  experience,  and  without  reference  or  precedent, 
should  be  brought  very  gently  and  silently  into  its  first 
activities.    The  unspoken  language  will  be  the  best. 

First  of  all,  therefore,  the  Creator  has  planned,  and  placed 
in  the  Great  Deep  of  space,  a  vast  creation  of  order,  and 
law,  and  permanent  form  ;  and  one  of  the  special  purposes  in 
this  arrangement,  in  addition  to  those  of  protection,  and 
restriction,  and  freedom  to  the  parties  concerned,  will  be  as 
teachers,  to  present  constantly  and  without  ceasing  their 
formal  statements  of  the  Creator's  thought  and  purpose. 
This  presentation  to  each  incoming  party,  with  its  unused, 
newly-created  endowment,  will  be  in  object-lessons ;  and  in 
order  that  this  presentation  sliall  always  be  the  same  to  all 
others,  a  body  must  be  prepared  for  each  one,  with  an  organic 
capacity  to  take  each  the  eame  lesson,  in  the  same  manner 
and  method.  It  will  be  conditional  for  the  reception,  or 
taking,  of  any  such  outward  lesson,  that  the  organ— as,  say, 
that  of  vision  —  shall  report  it,  in  some  way,  to  the  spiritual 
endowment  placed  within  the  organized  body. 

It  will  be  conditional  for  this  that  the  organ  shall  receive 
from  the  object  to  be  seen,  a  shock  calling  attention  to  the 
fact,  and  at  the  same  time  presenting  a  picture  or  outline  of 
it.  We  use  the  word  shock,  because  if  the  report,  or  presen- 
tation that  comes  to  the  organ,  has  an  increased  power  and 
intensity,  the  shock  will  be  very  evident,  and  may  be  so  great 
as  to  destroy  the  organ.  It  will,  theref<ire,  be  conditional  for 
the  comfortable  use  of  all  the  organs  that  this  shock  shall  be 


THE  MENTAL   STRUCTURE.  61 

reduced  to  the  smallest  possible  minimum.  This  may  be 
called  simply  an  impression  ;  and  by  this  arrangement,  there- 
fore, we  have  the  important  fact  that  the  endowment  is 
impressible,— and  this,  again,  may  as  well  be  expressed  by  the 
word  feeling,  or  sensibility — i.  c,  it  receives  impressions  of 
outward  things,  through  the  senses,  in  its  prepared  organized 
body  of  impersonal  and  life  forces.  Now,  bearing  in  mind 
that  there  must  be  something  of  the  nature  of  shock,  however 
slight,  in  the  reception  of  any  outward  facts,  then  we  may 
say  there  must  be  something  of  the  nature  of  feeling  in  the 
reception  of  such  facts,  and  that  therefore,  feeling,  or 
emotion,  will  be  one  of  the  first  results  of  the  activity  of  the 
endowment,  in  reference  to  such  outward,  formal  presen- 
tations. 

This  authorizes  us  to  say  that  the  endowment  is  (1) 
receptive,  and  (2)  that  it  has  the  capacity  of  feeling.  This 
latter  is  not  a  self-acting  movement,  but  a  sequence,  always, 
of  something  prior,  to  which  this  is  second.  For  it  is  con- 
ditional for  it  that  it  has  a  precedent  cause.  It  is  not,  and 
cannot  be,  self -originating. 

We  have  now,  so  far,  found  simply  this— that  spirit  (in  a 
prepared  organism)  is  impressible  by  force.  We  do  not  know 
that  it  is,  or  can  be,  impressible  by  force,  except  through  and 
in  a  connection  with  a  force  organism  specially  arranged  for 
it  and  adapted  to  it,  but  that  with  such  organism  it  is 
impressible  by  that  which  is  impersonal,  non -rational,  non- 
spiritual  and  irresponsible. 

This  is  our  first  great  finding  in  the  plan  of  the  particulars 
of  the  rational  endowment. 

Now,  if  spirit  is  also  impressible  by  spirit,  then  there 
■will  be  two  agencies  which  can  be  made  available — to  wit, 
the  personal  and  the  impersonal — for  giving  impressions  and 
reporting  facts,  truths  and  principles,  (on  a  basis  of  feeling), 
to  the  factors  of  the  rational  endowment,  and  so  giving  its 
condition  of  increase  immediate  room  for  rational  activities 
of  every  possible  description  and  variety,  that  it  may  be 
desirable  to  have  in  what  we  may  call  a  primary  school  of 


62  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

elemental  instruction.  Now,  that  spirit  is  impressible  by 
spirit,  is  the  main  argument  in  this  discussion.  It  was  one 
of  the  reasons,  as  we  supposed,  of  this  impersonal  factor 
being  brought  into  the  plan  of  being,  that  the  outflowing 
potency  and  energy  of  spiritual  presence,  directly  in  the 
spiritual  realm,  would  require  something  to  protect  unused 
and  undeveloped  factors  of  the  same  spiritual  content  and 
make-up  in  a  first  experience,  and  that,  on  the  other  hand, 
the  presence  of  the  impersonal — even  its  constant  presence — 
might  be  made  quite  endurable  and  companionable.  That 
spirit  acts  upon  spirit  is  involved  in  all  rational  intercourse, 
in  all  fellowship  and  communion,  and  that  it  is  based  upon 
feeling — emotion  of  one  kind  or  another. 

The  negative  proof  that  the  emotional  is  conditional  for  a 
rational  endowment  may  be  seen  in  this,  that  without  it  the 
working  factors  would  be  hard,  dry,  mechanical  agencies— r 
merciless,  unforgiving,  unloving,  passionless,  sharp,  and 
exact,  and  precise,  and  true,  perhaps,  but  without  any  con- 
ceivable motive  to  put  forth  any  activity  whatever.  The 
endowment,  therefore,  might  be  pounded  upon  by  personal 
or  impersonal  agencies,  but  would  refuse  to  respond,  and  if 
any  action  began  it  would  soon  cease  for  lack  of  a  motive. 

We  may  therefore  formulate  it  that  the  rational  endow- 
ment will  be  first  of  all  receptive,  and  in  its  receptiveness  it 
will  be,  secondly,  emotional,  and  so  capable  of  being  im- 
pressed emotionally  by  both  personal  and  impersonal  agen- 
cies, and,  as  far  as  we  know,  by  everything  that  has  come 
forth  into  being  in  the  created  universe,  with  which  it  is,  or 
may  be,  brought  into  communication. 

Further,  it  is,  we  conceive,  conditional  for  the  emotional 
capacity  that  it  should  be  in  its  general  activities,  (as  motive 
to  begin  and  continue  any  action),  pleasurable  in  its  content, 
and  that  if  pain  enters  anywhere,  it  should  be  an  exception 
to  its  general  expression,  and  be  only  for  some  special  pur- 
pose. "We  have  already  suggested  that  the  spiritual  endow- 
ment may  only  be  impressible  by  force  agency  through  a 
prepared  organism,  and  if  in  the  spiritual  realm  there  may  be 


THE  MENTAL  STRUCTURE.  63 

an  organism  which  brings  to  the  spirit  pleasurable  and  joyful 
emotions,  but  is  not  subject  to  pain,  then  we  must  suppose 
that  the  precedent  causes,  (emotion  being  secondary  always, 
and  caused  by  something  precedent)— do  not  enter  there — are 
not  found  there — and  are  not  permitted  to  appear.  If,  then, 
pain  appears  in  the  first  term  and  first  experience  of  the 
rational  endowment,  it  must  be  for  a  purpose  intimately 
connected,  in  some  way,  with  its  own  well-being  and  future 
destiny. 

In  any  examination  of  this,  we  are  to  bear  in  mind  that  all 
feeling  and  emotion— as  we  have  just  noted — is  secondary 
and  not  primary.  So  in  regard  to  pain,  we  are  to  notice  that 
as  a  sequence  it  will  refer  to  its  cause,  and  we  may  therefore 
say  that  it  is  an  indication  of  some  harm  or  injury  of  some 
kind.  It  points  mstanlly  to  an  enemy.  It  checks,  warns 
and  threatens,  or  is  itself  an  unwelcome  witness  and 
sequence  of  an  injury  already  done.  If,  therefore,  there  is  to 
be  an  emotional  department,  it  a\  ill  be  conditional  for  it  that 
it  shall  have  some  method  of  very  quickly  and  pointedly 
characterizing  any  action  that  is  likely  to  bring  harm  to  the 
endowment,  or  to  the  bodily  organism  with  which  it  is  con- 
nected and  associated.  And  this  pain  can  do  and  can  also  be 
itself  the  evidence  of  harm  already  begun,  and  be  sharp  and 
emphatic  in  its  testimony. 

It  will  act,  in  this  way,  strictly  on  the  line  of  that  restrictive 
agency  which  the  whole  bodily  organism  will  itself  put  upon 
the  impulsive  tendencies  of  the  untried  factors  of  the  endow- 
ment, and  so  will  often  be  calling  a  halt  in  the  proceedings, 
and  give  time  to  change  the  activity,  or  turn  it  in  another 
direction. 

If  any  question  should  be  raised  as  to  any  permanent  or 
destructive  effect  from  this  agent,  we  have  now  shown  that 
it  has  a  different  and  a  special,  specific  purpose,  very  plainly 
seen,  and  that  it  is  not  to  destroy  the  endowment,  but  to 
warn,  and  bring  upon  it  the  penalty  of  wrong-doing.  If  its 
purpose  and  intent  are  not  to  destroy,  and  it  does  destroy, 
then   it  acts  contrary  to,  or,  at  least,  outside  of,  its  own 


64  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

intent  and  purpose,— which  would  be  absurd,  and  could  not 
possibly  be  admitted  in  a  rational  plan. 

What  the  created  personality  may  do  in  regard  to  absurdi- 
ties is  entirely  another  matter,  and  may  admit  of  any  number 
and  variety  of  contraries,  but  this  has  reference  to  the 
Creator's  action  in  the  fixed  plan  of  a  rationality,  and  cannot 
possibly  admit  of  any  absurdity  or  the  shadow  of  it. 

Pain  and  suffering,  although  not  the  appointed  agents  for 
the  purpose,  may  be  efficient  in  the  destruction  of  that  which 
is  destructible,  and  was  so  planned  to  have  a  limited  dura- 
tion— as,  say,  a  changing  organic  bodily  life, — but  it  does  not 
appear  that  the/  can  touch,  with  any  such  efficiency,  the 
spiritual  content  which  came  from  the  Creator. 

"VVe  may  now  proceed  with  our  inquiries  as  to  the  other 
particulars  in  the  plan 

In  the  make-up  of  the  endowment  we  have  to  do  with  that 
which  is  a  unit,  but  which  will  have  methods  of  acting  which 
are  as  varied  as  though  they  came  forth  from  as  many 
different  personalities.  It  will  therefore  be  conditional  for 
them,  if  they  act  so  diversely  and  separately  in  their  several 
methods  and  fields  of  action,  that  they  be  closely  interlocked 
in  the  structure  of  the  endowment,  making  each  one  con- 
ditional for  all,  and  especially  for  the  one  it  connects  with  in 
the  company.  We  have  now  found  two  of  these  united 
diversities  in  the  receptive  and  emotional  capacities.  The 
next  in  the  counection  will  be  what  we  may  here  call  a  hold- 
ing faculty.  Unless  the  endowment  has  the  power  of  holding 
what  it  gets,  it  cannot  go  on  with  the  principle  of  increase, 
but  can  simply  receive  and  hive  what  is  momently  before 
it,  and  it  would  make  no  advance  whatever.  Instead  of 
being  and  having  more  to-day  than  it  had  yesterday,  it  may 
be  even  less,  if  there  is  not  as  much  to  receive  to-day,  and  if 
that  also  was  entirely  removed — i.  e.,  the  outward  objects — 
it  would  have  nothing  to  busy  itself  with,  and  would  cease  to 
act.  It  would  not,  in  such  case,  necessarily  cease  to  exist, 
for  its  inactivity  would  not  destroy  its  capacity  —  its 
spiritual  endowment — but  would  be  reduced  to  a  state  of 


THE   MENTAL   STUUCTURK.  65 

compulsory  inaction.  There  are  forms  of  sentient  life  tbat 
reach  perception,  and  some  slight  amount  of  feeling,  but  ^'o 
no  farther.  They  stop  there.  They  live  and  die  in  that  little 
round.    They  are  not  rational  or  responsible. 

These  three  primitive  and  initial  capacities,  the  receptive, 
the  emotional  and  the  retentive,  condition  each  other  and 
act  as  one.  In  their  time-order,  the  receptive  and  the 
retentive  come  first,  and  the  emotional  follows;  and  though 
this  last  vi^ill  not  come  at  all  without  the  action  of  the  other 
two,  its  own  action  is  so  quick,  that  we  may  say  they  all  act 
in  one  and  ihe  same  time. 

But  the  great  fact  that  the  emotional  is  always  and 
absolutely  secondary,  and  never  appears  alone,  and  never  can, 
and  never  will,  is  fundamental  and  structural  in  the  plan  of 
rational  being. 

It  is  equally  fundamental  and  structural  that  when  the 
conditional  causes  have  acted,  the  emotional  will  follow,  and 
710  power  in  the  Universe  can  'prevent  it.  Other  causes  may 
originate  other  emotions,  and  so  a  modifying  power  may  be 
brought  to  bear,  but  only  so  because  the  law  here  is  the 
same — that  is,  permanent,  and  without  possibility  of  failure 
or  lack  of  efficiency. 

We  now  proceed  to  activities  of  another  order. 

If  in  the  rational  make-up  there  is  a  power  to  hold  what  is 
reported  to  it,  and  that  which  it  receives  can  remain,  there 
will  be  a  rapid  accumulation,  according  to  its  activity  in 
taking  the  things  brought  to  it,  or  held  up  before  it,  and  in  a 
fixed  and  constant  presentation  of  the  great  variety  of  such 
objects  as  may  come  into  form  in  an  impersonal  foi'ce- 
creation,  this  miscellaneous  assemblage  will  give  a  con- 
ditional need  in  the  endowment  of  some  distinguishing,  and 
discriminating  and  constructing  agency,  to  separate  and 
examine  the  particulars,  and  also  another  agency  to  interpret 
the  lesson  everywhere  contained,  not  only  in  the  whole  of 
each  object,  but  in  its  parts.  We  shall  then  have  as  con- 
ditional for  the  rational  endowment  (so  far  discovered),  the 
following  connected  but  diverse  agencies — to  wit :  the  recep- 


66  THE  MENTAL   PLAN. 

tive,  the  emotional,  the  retentive,  the  distinguishing,  the 
discriminating,  tlie  constructing  and  the  interpreting  agen- 
cies. As  that  which  constructs  must  distinguish  and  dis- 
criminate, and  as  that  which  interprets  must  first  behold,  we 
may  use  the  terms  constructive  and  intuitive  for  all  the 
activities  in  this  department. 

Here  it  may  be  asked.  Where  is  the  necessity — the  un- 
yielding condition— for  agencies  of  this  kind  to  busy  them- 
selves with  impersonal,  outward  objects— mere  things  of 
form,  and  color,  and  force  manifestations — however  curious 
or  interesting,  seeing  that  it  is  itself  a  purely  spiritual 
personality,  and  is  supposed  to  have  its  ultimate  home  and 
association  and  fellowship  with  its  Creator,  and  the  spiritual 
intelligences  who  dwell  in  His  presence  ?  The  question  is 
entirely  pertinent.  It  may  be  admitted  that  the  cosmos  may 
serve  the  purpose  of  protecting  and  restricting  the  otherwise 
unregulated  activity  of  the  endowment,  properly  curbing, 
restraining  and  interrupting  the  otherwise  incessant  outflow 
of  spiritual  potency,  in  its  precipitate  activities,  in  a  field  so 
new,  and  strange,  and  wonderful,  and  the  perceptive  and  the 
emotional,  it  might  be  said,  would  do  very  well  on  such 
premises;  but  what  is  the  special  need  of  these  other  factors, 
and  what  possible  advantage  will  they  bring  to  the  per- 
sonality, by  all  their  drilling  and  fagging  among  thinge  that 
are  neither  rational,  nor  spiritual,  nor  even  sensible,  and  in 
no  manner  reciprocal  ? 

To  answer  this  we  refer  again  to  the  interlocked  and  inter- 
conditioned  state  of  the  endowment,  as  one  whole  in  one 
personality.  The  emotional  itself  cannot  be  developed  and 
lifted  up  into  what  may  be  called  a  rational  elevation,  except 
by  the  help  of  its  rational  associates.  If  no  thinking,  and 
reasoning,  and  interpreting  power  is  given,  the  facts  or 
objects  presented  v,iil\  be  mere  form,  and  their  inner  content 
will  not  merely  be  unknown,  but  unsuspected,  and  the 
emotion  will  not  rise  above  a  mere  perceptive  feeling — seeing 
that  it  is  the  nature  of  the  emotion  only  to  appear  for  cause, 
and  when  it  appears  it  will  express  the  character  and  qualiiy 


THE   MENTAL   STKUCTUKE. 

of  the  cause,  and  no  more,  and  if  nothing  has  been  taken  but 
the  outward  form,  it  will  be  the  lowest  superficial  impression 
possible  to  be  taken.  The  vacant  stare  of  the  brute  would 
be  all  that  the  endowment  would  rise  to,  if  these  working 
factors,  so-called,  the  hard,  dry,  matter-of-fact  business 
agents,  did  not  also  take  hold,  and  examine,  and  judge,  ami 
scrutinize,  and  find  the  meaning  of  things,  and  the  intent  and 
content  of  everything  brought  before  it.  When  this  is  done, 
and  as  it  is  done,  but  not  before,  then  the  emotional  expands, 
and  comes  up  upon  a  higher  level,  in  company  and  in  fellows- 
ship  with  these  transactions.  It  is  seen,  therefore,  that  the 
emotional  department,  vast,  and  wonderful,  and  glorious  as 
it  is  capable  of  becoming — inconceivably  so — is  not  so— does 
not  become  so — cannot  become  so — by  its  own  self-activity, 
but  is  always  wholly  dependent  on  the  activity  and  work  of 
its  working  and  self-acting  associates  and  partners,  in  the 
endowment,  or  upon  some  other  adequate  cause  in  other  per- 
sonalities, including  that  of  its  Creator. 

In  this  statement,  wiiich  is  very  plain  and  obvious,  we 
have  the  fact  of  their  intimate  connection,  and  reciprocal 
conditions. 

For  while  it  is  conditional  for  the  highest  and  purest 
emotions,  that  the  other  associates  in  the  endowment,  should 
present  and  interpret  the  adequate  causes  therefor,  it  is 
equally  conditional  for  the  free,  spontaneous  and  lively 
activities  of  these  working  parties,  that  they  should  have 
some  satisfaction  for  work  done.  It  is  a  mutual  association, 
under  one  chief. 

If  any  further  argument  is  needed,  to  show  why  the 
working  factors  will  be  needed,  or  if  it  is  simply  desirable 
to  see  the  plan  of  the  endowment  from  varied  stand- 
points, and  especially  if  it  is  suggested  that  to  spiritual 
beings,  a  quick,  intuitive  comprehension  might  very  well  take 
the  place  of  these  slow,  excursive  and  deliberating  processes 
of  the  understanding, — we  may  reply  there  is  no  haste,  or 
confusion  or  necessary  anxiety  embodied  in  the  plan  of  the 
endowment,  that  it  should  need  to  omit  any  of  the  slower 


68  THE  MENTAL,  PLAN. 

processes,  which  may  be  conditional  for  other  and  higher 
transactions.  The  Creator,  who  formed  it,  will  provide  time 
enough,  even  if  it  begins  at  the  beginning  and  moves  slowly 
at  the  start,  seeing  that  all  eternity  is  before  it — and  always 
will  be, — and  if  He  has  Himself  created  these  impersonal, 
non-rational  and  non-spiritual  agencies,  and  placed  within 
them  their  constant  laws,  and  connections,  and  representa- 
tions, and  if  He  has  also  created  the  rational  endowment 
with  faculties  adapted  to  the  slow  process  of  studying  out 
these  hidden  contents,  and  finding  His  thought  therein,  and 
His  design  and  purpose,  and  in  that  manner  getting  some 
evidence  of  His  unseen  presence, — then  we  may  rationally 
conclude  that  they  have  been  wisely  given  and  may  be  wisely 
used.    "  Seek  wisdom,  and  with  wisdom  seek  understanding.''^ 

In  point  of  fact,  the  reasons  for  the  understanding  factors 
are  so  many  and  found  in  such  opposite  directions,  we  may 
be  certain  that  they  are  the  very  frame-work  of  the  whole 
structure. 

If  we  should  seek  to  express,  from  any  one  stand-point, 
that  which  can  only  be  seen  from  many,  we  should  say  that 
the  greatest  object  in  causing  the  endowment  to  begin  its 
activity  among  impersonal  agencies,  and  with  such  working 
factors  as  could  deal  with  them,  would  be  to  give  it  an 
opportunity — and  the  best  kind  of  opportunity — to  co-operate 
in  its  own  make-up  as  a  rationality.  Beginning  at  a  mere 
potential  capacity,  it  can,  and  will,  build  up  itself,  by  its  own 
self-acting  energy,  and  so,  in  a  certain  sense,  not  be  only  self- 
acting  and  self-conscious,  but  may  become,  by  its  rational 
processes,  self-made.  By  being  associated  with  its  own 
activities  from  the  very  beginning,  and  having  a  holding 
capacity  to  retain  and  carry  along  in  itself  that  which  it 
acquires,  what  it  has  and  what  it  is,  at  any  period  of  its 
duration,  is  all  its  own,  except  the  spiritual  endowment 
which  it  did  not  make  and  which  it  has  as  a  gift  from  its 
Creator.  This  process  of  co-operating  in  the  make-up  of  a 
personality,  is,  we  think,  made  more  thorough  and  practi- 
cable,—and  perhaps  only  so,— by  taking  its  lessons  from 


THE   MENTAL   STRUCTURE.  6^ 

things  impersonal — objects  which  cannot  oppose  any  personal 
will  to  the  will  of  the  endowment,  and  which  will  quietly 
permit  any  exnmination,  while  at  the  same  time  they  utterly 
forbid  any  violatioa  of  their  own  laws  of  being,  and,  if  need 
be,  can  present  to  the  personal  will  of  tiie  endowment  a  will 
of  their  own,  against  which  nothing  can  prevail— a  will  all 
the  stronger  and  more  formidable  that  it  is  silent  and  speech- 
less. Nothing  can  provoke  it  into  words— but  it  has  had  its 
commands,  and  it  will  mutely  stand  as  it  is,  and  maintain 
its  integrity,  day  and  night,  summer  and  winter,  year  in  and 
year  out;  it  will  show  forth,  constantly,  order,  and  system, 
and  plan,  and  purpose,  and  law,  and  light,  and  uniformity, 
and  progress,  and  life,  and  time,  and  form,  and  color,  and 
locality  and  motion,  and  force-manifestations  of  varied  kinds 
and  potencies,  and  will  embody  the  ideas  of  beauty,  and 
taste,  and  grandeur,  and  power,  and  sublimity,  and  in 
receiving,  and  studying,  and  interpreting  all  these  lessons, 
the  understanding  and  interpreting  powers  in  the  endowment 
will  find  their  proper  field  of  activity,  in  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  their  being  on  a  solid  basis,  and  getting  all  the 
elemental  facts  first,  according  to  what  seems  to  be  the 
thought  of  the  Creator  in  the  great  plan. 

It  has  seemed  good  to  Him  to  occupy  a  large  portion  of 
space  with  suns  and  flying  worlds  of  vast  dimensions,  and 
with  movements  inconceivably  rapid  and  complex,  and  to 
place  in  those  worlds,  for  the  use  and  study  of  generations  of 
intelligences,  as  they  come  and  go,  a  fixed,  permanent, 
uniform  representation  of  such  great  outstanding  verities  as 
have  been  from  eternity  past,  and  will  remain  and  go  on  into 
the  eternity  to  come,  and  it  has  seemed  good  to  Him  that 
every  rationality  which  He  places  here  in  the  midst  of  these 
facts  and  representations,  should  have  the  faculties  by  which 
they  may  become  well  grounded  in  all  that  is  initial  and 
lemental  in  their  own  construction.  He  gives  them,  ac- 
cordingly, the  working  powers  and  the  working  materials. 
This  is  His  co-operation,  and  the  work  done  is  by  the  co- 
operating activity  of  the  created  personality. 


70  THE   MEXTAL    PLAN. 

The  plan  of  (created)  rational  being  is  thus  seen  to  be  that 
of  co-operation  with  an  unseen  Creator,  and  not  at  all  a  plan 
■of  a  whollij  separate  rationality. 

There  is  no  such  plan.  There  can  be  no  such  plan.  The 
plan  of  all  being  is  the  plan  of  related  being,  whether 
personal  or  impersonal,  and  the  separateness  of  the  person- 
ality in  the  personal  does  not  and  cannot  annul  the  out- 
standing and  eternal  relation,  and  if  it  could  do  so,  it  would 
simply  disappear  from  the  realm  of  being  and  reality.  It  would 
vanish,  and  appear  no  more.  The  wonderfid  beauty  of  the 
plan  is  that  it  is  not  to  disappear,— but  that  in  all  the  great 
future  that  is  constantly  before  it,  there  is  no  limit  and 
no  bound,  and  there  is  to  be  no  limit  and  no  bound,  and  when 
the  stars  have  faded  out  of  the  sky,  these  same  hard-working, 
understanding  elements  of  the  rational  endowment,  that 
busied  themselves  in  getting  well-grounded,  when  they  first 
started  in  activity,  with  the  solid  matters  of  fact,  Mill  still 
have  place  somewhere,  and  something  to  do. 

But  it  is  not  all  to  be  a-doing.  We  have  already  seen  that 
there  is  an  emotional  department  of  wonderful  extent,  and 
variety,  and  power.  It  is  so  wonderlul,  so  up-lifting,  so 
exhilarant,  and  so  inexpressibly  suggestive  and  prophetic,  in 
its  higher  ranges,  of  that  which  is  invisible  and  is  yet  to  come, 
that  we  should  say  of  it,  there  must  be  a  place  somewhere,  a 
home  somewhere,  where  this  longing  of  the  spiritual  being 
for  a  sight  of  the  unseen  things  may  be  gratified,  and  a  larger 
liberty  be  found,  and  the  home-feeling  can  be  met  in  all  its 
fullness,  and  the  family  can  be  made  up,  and  the  song  of 
thanksgiving  can  be  given  out,  and  the  acclamations  of  the 
hosts  can  go  up  unto  Him  that  sitteth  upon  the  Throne,  and 
to  the  Lamb  forever  and  ever. 

We  will  now  proceed  to  the  examination  of  the  next  great 
department  in  the  plan  of  the  rationality. 

One  of  the  prominent  facts  in  the  plan  of  the  endowment 
we  have  already  indicated  in  designating  it  a  plan  of  co- 
operation with  an  unseen  Creator. 

We  may  add  to  this  that  it  is  also  a  co-operation  with 


THE   MENTAL    STRUCTURE.  71 

unseen  and  unknown  laws,  and  it  is  an  important  part 
of  tiie  pui-j)0!-e  of  this  endowment  to  find  them,  and  inter- 
pret them,  and  bring  its  own  activities  into  harmony  with 
them  and  in  line  with  them,  and  so  act  in  and  with  them. 
It  is  not  chaos  into  which  it  rises  when  it  comes  up  into 
rational  being — but  a  prepared  order  and  system,  and  this  is 
why  the  representation  of  law  in  an  impersonal  cosmos  will 
be  so  fixed,  so  constant ,  to  uncbangiug,  eo  pirduring  through 
all  periods,  and  enduring  through  all  reactions  and  antagon- 
isms— because  It  is  intended  to  convey  to  all  rationalities 
that  their  Creator  is  a  Being  in  whom  order  and  law  do  not 
merely  exist  for  the  welfare  and  security  of  others,  but  for 
His  own  welfare  as  well.  The  endowment,  therefore,  although 
entirely  free  within  them,  will  have  its  own  order  and  laws, 
and  all  its  processes  of  every  kind  will  be  strictly  according 
to  fixed  laws.  So  that  we  have  the  laws  of  the  perceptive, 
the  emotional,  the  retentive,  the  constructive,  the  inter- 
preting, and  all  other  special  activities  which  make  up  the 
complete  outfit  of  the  rational  endowment.  Some  of  these 
powers  are  self-active  and  primary,  and  others  secondary, 
and  their  structural  laws  place  them  and  prescribe  their 
methods.  Of  those  whi>cli  are  secondary  and  api>ear  only  as 
they  are  called  for,  we  have  already  found  the  emotional,  and 
shall  presently  have  another  department  to  examine  which  Is 
closely  connected  with  it. 

In  regard  to  these  fixed  laws  in  the  personal  and  in  the  im- 
personal cosmos,  tliere  is  a  difference  in  one  particular  which 
we  may  notice.  Tlie  impersonal  law  cannot  be  broken.  If 
it  could  be,  agesicies  of  some  kind  might  come  upon  it,  and 
by  a  mighty  concerted  movement  the  whole  Universe  might 
be  made  to  vanish  and  be  as  a  thing  of  naught.  But  "  He 
hath  given  it  a  law  w  hich  cannot  be  broken." 

But  in  the  realm  of  spiritual  being  there  must  be  freedom, 
and  although  in  the  highest  sense,  the  law  of  the  Creator — 
even  here— cannot  be  broken,  yet,  on  a  lower  plane  and 
among  created  personalities,  it  is  possible  for  the  created  will 
to  set  itself  against  the  Supreme  Will — and  although  it  can  do 


72  THK  MENTAL   PLAN. 

no  possible  harm  to  the  Creator,  it  can  do  liarm  to  itself,  and 
to  all  other  created  rationalities  with  which  it  may  hold 
intercourse. 

In  this  case  there  will  be  a  call  for  a  judicial  agency,  or 
faculty,  in  the  endowment,  that  can  recognize  this  violation 
of  law  —  this  setting  up  of  the  personal,  individual  will, 
against  the  Supreme  Will — and  take  such  further  action  in 
the  matter  as  the  case  demands.  Here  we  are  to  bear  in 
mind  that  it  is  the  Creator  Himself  who  forms  all  these 
faculties,  and  gives  them  their  potency  and  their  law,  and  so 
we  may  be  very  certain  that  this  part  of  the  outfit  will  be, 
like  all  the  rest,  complete  and  perfect.  Its  action  will  be 
authoritative,  and  it  will  be  its  own  witness  of  its  origin. 
More  directly  than  any  other  faculty  it  will  refer  to  its 
Maker  and  Creator,  and  it  will  admit  of  no  doubt  of  its  own 
testimony.  The  perceptive  may  sometimes  deceive,  the 
emotional  may  sometimes  go  outside  of  a  rational  activity, 
or  be  found  to  be  based  upon  wrong  premises, — but  this 
register  and  recorder  of  wrong-doing,  in  its  healthy  and 
normal  condition,  will  be  infallible.  Its  precedents  will  all 
be  in  the  Supreme  Judge,  and  its  adjudications  righteous  and 
true. 

This  agency,  like  the  emotional,  appears  only  upon  call, 
and  is,  therefore,  always  referring  to  some  other  and  prece- 
dent transaction.  It  is  always  present  and  always  ready  to 
act;  and  perhaps,  in  a  limited  sense,  we  may  say  that  it  is 
always  acting,  for  its  official  work  is  to  pronounce  its  decisions 
as  to  the  right  as  well  as  to  the  wrong  of  all  possible  spiritual 
activities.  It  connects  properly  with  the  emotional.  That 
is  its  field  of  action  when  it  acts  as  its  own  executive.  But, 
in  its  primary  and  distinctive  sphere,  it  should  be  free  from 
any  emotional  bias,  and  be  enabled  to  give  its  verdict  impar- 
tially, and  with  exact  reference  to  the  facts  examined. 

All  along,  on  the  line  of  wrong  thoughts,  wrong  desires, 
wrong  motives,  wrong  actions,  its  business — like  pain  in  the 
animal  organism — is  to  warn,  check,  restrain,  threaten, — but 
if  the  wrong  intent  is  still  continued,  and  not  abandoned. 


THE  MENTAL  STRUCTURE.  73 

then  it  ;icLs  as  its  own  executive  of  the  penalty  which  the 
Creator  has  built  in  as  a  sequence  in  the  structure  of  the 
personality,  and  which  it  must  continue  to  carry.  The 
penalty  falls  upon  the  emotional  capacity.  The  emotions 
never  rise  without  cause,— and  they  never  fail  to  rise  with 
cause,  and  their  action,  therefore,  will  be  strictly  according 
to  thtir  own  structural  law,  when  they  spring  up  from  any 
judicial  sentence  which  is  passed  by  their  associate  in  tlio 
endowment.  This,  while  it  separates  and  points  out  the 
distinctive  work  of  each  activity, shows,  also,  how  intimately 
they  are  interlocked  and  conditioned. 

We  must  carefully  note,  however,  that  tliey  are  both 
secondary,  and  always  come  along  as  sequences,  having, 
invariably,  precedents  that  come  first  and  prepare  the  way. 
If  there  is  no  cause  for  action,  the  court  does  not  sit — the 
case  does  not  come  up,  and  proceedings  do  not  begin. 

In  the  same  manner,  if  there  is  no  spiritual  experience  in 
the  life,  there  will  be  no  proper  spiritual  emotion.  It  will 
not  be  safe  to  say,  in  regard  to  tlie  emotional,  that  this 
relation  >o  its  precedent  has  the  exact  correlation  and 
equivalence  which  is  found  in  physical  force  ;  but  this  is,  we 
think,  the  general  law,  in  the  normal  endowment,  and  holds 
good  practically,  to  a  large  extent,  in  all  spiritual  experience. 
So  that  we  may  say.  As  is  the  experience,  so  is  the  emotional 
result, — and  this  holds,  not  only  through  a  first  experience, 
as  seeing  the  things  that  are  unseen,  but  it  holds,  also, 
without  doubt,  in  the  very  presence  of  tiie  Creator. 

The  modification  froni  this  exact  equivalent  in  the  time 
experience,  comes  from  the  very  nature  of  spirit,  as  a  free, 
spontaneous,  self  acting  personality,  almost  constantly  break- 
ing away  from  the  line  of  its  own  well-being,  and  breaking 
up  the  perfect  harmony  of  its  own  factors.  Tiie  same  is  true 
of  its  associate — the  conscience.  Its  action  is  liable  to  bo 
perverted  or  become  diseased, — and  both  these  great  depart- 
ments in  the  rational  endowment  need,  for  their  proper  and 
healthy  development,  a  wise  and  careful  training. 

Before  leaving  this  topic,  we  must  not  forget  to  take  a  look 


74  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

into  the  great  future,  for  no  view  of  the  plan  will  be  complete 
that  does  not  take  in  the  eternal  duration. 

And  here  we  notice  simply  this, — that  there  seems  to  be 
Tery  little  call  for  a  judicial  agency,  if  the  term  of  duration 
is  soon  to  close.  It  would  seem  to  be  as  well,  or  better,  to 
have  a  a  quiet  indifference  to  the  moral  character  of  actions, 
for  in  such  a  case  there  might  be  less  wrong  actually  working 
out  in  a  rational  experience,  than  there  would  be  where 
every  wrong  is  quickly  noticed,  and  judicial  proceedings  are 
immediately  set  up,  and  untold  sorrow  and  remorse  follows 
quickly — and  sometimes  with  such  terrible  results.  All  this 
seems  out  of  proportion,  if  the  life  itself  is  soon  to  close, — but 
not  at  all  out  of  proportion  if  it  is  made  available  to  the 
welfare  of  one  who  has  an  eternal  duration.  Accordingly,  in 
the  rational  it  is  found  as  a  great  and  mighty  factor,  while  in 
all  the  grades  of  shojt, sentient  life, there  is  no  sense  of  right 
and  wrong,  and  no  such  capacity  can  be  developed  in  them. 
They  can  be  trained  to  fear  punishment,  but  not  to  under- 
stand the  reason  of  it. 

We  will  now  examine  the  different  agencies  so  far  found 
in  reference  to  the  conditions  in  which  they  must  stand  and 
act.  First,  they  must  be  immutable, — second,  must  be 
subject  to  increase,— third,  must  begin  witli  no  prior  experi- 
€nce,  and  be,  in  themselves,  each  one,  simply  a  spiritual, 
self-acting  capacity  to  act— how  ?  To  act  according  to  their 
own  methods — their  ow^n  laws,  inherent,  fixed,  permanent. 
Then,  according  to  this,  they  are  not  free  to  act  contrary  to 
their  own  structural  laws  ?  Precisely  not — for  if  they  were 
free  to  act  different  from  their  own  fixed  laws,  they  could 
change  the  plan  of  their  being,  which,  according  to  the  first 
condition,  must  be  unchangeable.  This  being  the  case,  how 
is  the  person  who  uses  these  powers  to  be  free  ?  Very 
xeadily.  He  is  not  free  to  change  these  methods,  for  this 
would  give  him  power  to  destroy  his  own  being,  but  he  is 
free  to  use  them  for  any  purpose  which  he  may  elect.  But 
in  doing  this,  if  the  entire  control  is  placed  in  his  hands,  he 
must  become  responsible.    The  powers  given,  so  far,  have  no 


THE  MENTAL  STRUCTURE.  75 

controlling  agt  nej .,  uud  unless  there  be  such  a  power  included 
in  the  endowuieut,  there  will  be  only  a  chaos  of  splemlid 
potencies,  ready,  and  able,  and  willing  to  act,  but  without 
any  proper  head  to  direct  them.  The  endowment,  if  deprived 
of  this  executivi:  agency,  would  have  no  more  value  than  the 
floating,  irrational  dreams  and  visions  of  the  night.  Now, 
for  the  very  reason  that  all  other  powers  given  are  not  free 
to  vary  a  hair's  breadth  from  their  own  exact  methods  and 
structural  laws,— any  more  than  gravitation,  or  electricity, 
or  magnetism  can  vary,  or  anything  else  that  has  a  law  that 
cannot  be  broken,— for  this  very  reason  the  executive  power 
that  is  given  to  direct  and  control  these  agencies,  must  be 
free,  or  there  will  be  nowhere,  in  all  the  powers  given,  a 
personality  separate  from  the  Creator,  who  furnishes  the 
powers. 

This  executive  agency — a  "will  in  liberty"! — binds  the 
powers  given  in  one  personality,  takes  the  control  and 
assumes  all  the  responsibility — for  what  ?  For  the  use  which 
it  makes  of  its  own  being. 

Such  a  person  has  a  perfect  right  to  say :  God  must  have 
wanted  me  for  some  purpose,  or  He  would  not  have  brought 
me  up  into  rational  being,  and  I  must  try  and  find  out  what 
that  purpose  is, — and  a  rational  use  of  the  powers  given  will 
indicate  it. 

This  last  factor,  the  executive,  completes  the  endowment. 

As  we  have  given  the  conditions  of  the  endowment  in 
general,  and  of  the  several  factors  in  particular,  we  may  now 
say  of  this — the  will — that  it  will  be  conditional  for  its  proper 
authority  in  completing  the  make-up  of  the  endowment,  that 
it  shall  be  entirely  free,  and  shall  have  full  power  to  control 
and  direct  all  its  associates  in  the  company,  but  it  will  not 
be  a  power  to  overrule  or  change  their  methods  of  action. 

Its  power  within  its  own  proper  sphere  must  be  supreme 
and  sovereign.  It  is  conditional  for  it  that  it  should  have 
just  this  kind  of  power,  and  that,  in  the  highest  sense,  it 
should  be  self-active.  In  the  time-order  it  is  last,  but  in  its 
office  work  it  has  no  precedent.    It  is  its  own  precedent.    It 

tlliekok. 


76  THE  MENTAL  PLAN. 

is  not  secondary,  but  first  always.  It  may  be  acted  upon^ 
but  it  keeps  in  reserve,  always,  the  right  and  the  capacity  to 
decide  for  itself,  and  to  choose  its  own  way  and  its  own 
methods,  and  its  own  times  and  places,  and  so  becomes 
responsible  for  all  that  is  planned.  It  does  not  hesitate  to 
take  and  to  carry  this  responsibility,  and  whether  it  did 
hesitate  or  not,  the  responsibility  does  so  rest,  and  will 
ioi^  remain  for  time  and  for  eternity. 

Let  us  now  look  at  what  we  have.  Nothing  can  be 
omitted,  for — 

(1)  Without  the  outward  and  formal  cosmos,  there  will  be 
nothing  present  with  which  the  endowment  can  begin  any 
activity ; 

(2)  Without  the  receptive  faculty  there  will  be  nothing 
received ; 

(3)  Without  the  emotional  there  will  be  nothing  continued  ; 

(4)  Without  the  holding  there  will  be  nothing  carried  ; 

(5)  Without  the  discursive  thinking,  there  will  be  nothing 
sought  and  found ; 

(6)  Without  the  interpreting,  there  will  be  nothing  known 
and  comprehended ; 

(7)  Without  the  judicial,  there  will  be  nothing  telling  of  a 
Creator  and  Judge ; 

(8)  And,  without  the  executive,  there  will  be  nothing  con- 
trolled, and  directed,  and  (rationally)  done. 

This  last  is  the  great  central  factor  which  makes  and 
perpetuates  the  vast  differences  and  diversities  in  the 
activities  and  experiences  of  rational  personalities.  These 
diversities  may  be  so  great  and  separating,  that  an  actual 
separation  will  need  to  be  provided  for  when  eternity  is 
entered  and  the  proceedings  have  begun  on  those  premises. 

This  completes  the  outfit  of  powers  given  for  the  first  term 
of  life ;  but  as  the  home  of  the  endowment  is  to  be  in  eternity, 
we  may  inquire  whether  any  change  in  them  can  be  rationally 
expected  there,  and  also  what  part  or  proportion  of  things 
received  in  the  first  term  of  life  will  be  carried  into  the  next — 
the  eternal  state. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

CONCLUSIOX  OF  PART   FIRST. 

We  have  uow  found  the  powers  given,  but  there  are  a  few 
points  to  consider  before  we  have  the  plan  before  us  in  its 
completeness. 

I.  The  methods  of  their  activity.  II.  TJie  particulars  of  in- 
crease. III.  The  experience  carried  into  the  future.  IV.  The 
proof  of  ihe  completeness  of  the  endowment  in  the  powers  given. 
V.  Tlie  completed  formula.  VI.  The  whole  endowment  of  no 
value  loithout  an  experience. 

I.  Methods.  We  found  that  the  first  action  of  the  endow- 
ment—  in  perception  —  was  responsive  to  an  action  from 
without.  If  this  is  true  of  all  the  activities,  then  mind  acts 
only  from  some  cause  or  occasion.  It  is  not  like  a  piece  of 
clock-work,  which  must  run  as  long  as  it  is  wound  up  and  in 
order.  It  acts  only  when  there  is  reason  for  acting.  If  its 
action  is  to  go  on,  when  there  is  no  reason  for  it,  its  action 
will  not  be  rational,  but  mechanical.  If  its  constitution  is 
such — or  becomes  such  at  any  period — that  there  will  always 
be  somewhere,  either  without  or  within,  a  cause  for  its 
action,  then  its  action  will  be  ceaseless.  We  find  that  when 
the  will — the  controlling  executive — resigns  its  charge  in  the 
state  we  call  sleep,  some  of  the  powers  keep  up  an  action, 
made  up  of  past  materials  in  the  experience  which  have  been 
carried  along,  and  although  there  is  not  much  that  is  fully 
rational,  the  interlocked  connection  of  the  powers  in  the 
endowment  is  plainly  manifested. 

In  that  state  of  the  endowment  where  the  powers  are 
deranged  in  their  action,  the  cause  of  all  that  is  irrational  in 
the  mind's  action,  if  transient,  may  be  removed,  and  if  not 
■    (77) 


78  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

removed,  the  great  advantage  of  beginning  life  in  a  body 
which  shall  not  be  permanent,  and  which  can  be  exchanged 
for  a  spiritual  body,  is  seen  in  this,  that  it  provides  an 
opportunity  for  entire  restoration. 

But  in  these  cases  of  sleep  and  mental  derangement,  we 
notice  that  it  does  not  follow  that  because  man  is  brought 
into  being  with  a  rational  endowment,  all  which  he  does  will 
be  rational.  If,  in  his  busy,  conscious  activities,  he  lets  his 
rational  control  cease  its  directing  supervision,  he  will  have 
nothing  but  wild  dreams,  or  something  worse,  as  the  result 
of  his  work, — for  mind,  although  it  will  not  act  without 
cause,  will  not  fail  to  act  with  cause,  and  is  an  agent  of  vast 
power,  and,  on  its  own  lines  and  within  its  limits,  is  un- 
controllable and  irresistible. 

It  acts  with  the  certainty  and  efficiency  of  Him  who  consti- 
tuted it  a  living  soul  and  a  rational  spirit,  Himself  giving  and 
sustaining  thepoicers  conferred. 

II.  Tlie  particulars  of  increase.  Is  the  perceptive  faculty 
to  become  more  perceptive  ?  Can  it  perceive  more  than  the 
facts  in  view  ?  Is  the  holding  faculty  to  hold  more  ?  That 
we  may  admit — but  to  hold  is  to  hold,  and  to  perceive  is  to 
perceive.  It  is  one  simple  act,  complete  in  itself  and  in- 
capable of  increase  in  that  particular.  So  of  the  emotional. 
It  is  exactly  expressive  of  its  cause.  It  does  not  become 
capable  of  expressing  more  to-day,  from  the  same  cause,  than 
it  did  yesterday,  or  will  to-morrow  from  the  same  cause, 
provided  all  the  other  facts  are  the  same. 

(1)  Increase,  therefore,  does  not  come  from  any  cliange  in 
the  primitive  normal  action  of  the  factors  in  the  endowment, 
which  will  be  precisely  the  same  in  eternity  as  in  time.  It 
may  be  expected  that  a  higher  order  of  facts  and  impressions 
will  appear  in  and  through  a  spiritual  body,  but  the  receptive 
faculty  will  still  be  the  same  there  in  the  spiritual  body,  and, 
as  faculty  to  receive,  will  be  precisely  what  it  is  in  the  body 
of  impersonal  and  life  forces.  It  is  one  and  the  same  endow- 
ment in  each,  and  is  wholly  spiritual  in  each — as  much  in 
one  as  in  the  other. 


CONCLUSION   OF   PART  FIRST.  79 

(2)  In  what,  then,  is  the  increase  to  be  ?  Of  what  will  it 
consist?  We  answer,  all  that  will  so  attach  itself  to  the 
personality  as  to  become  one  with  it.  First,  the  acquisition 
of  its  own  methods  of  activitj'  will  be  increase  to  itself,  and 
will  be  henceforth  inseparable.  This  will  come  gradually,  step 
by  step,  a  little  at  a  time — but  every  day's  changes  will  add 
somewhat  to  its  aggregate  of  what  it  is  becoming,  in  and 
through  its  own  self-active  movements.  It  must  itself  find, 
and  itself  use,  its  methods  cf  seeing,  perceiving,  thinking, 
judging  and  deciding,  and  in  thousands  and  thousands  of 
instances,  it  constantly  increases  its  facility  of  action  in  each 
faculty,  till  after  long  practice,  it  is  so  quick  as  to  be 
unconscious  of  effort.  It  then  sees  surface  things  at  a 
glance,  and  is  preparing  itself  to  see  deeper  things  at  a 
glance.  In  the  above  activities,  all  that  it  has  gained  has 
been  its  own  gaining,  not  another's,  and  so  is  its  own  personal 
possession.  (3)  It  has  not  been  a  gift  to  it.  The  powers  used 
are  a  gift,  and  are  to  remain  a  gift,  but  the  work  done  has 
been  by  a  personality  using  those  powers,  and  becoming  a 
personality  in  the  use  of  them. 

(4)  But  all  along  with  these  activities — sometimes  running 
before,  and  sometimes  running  behind,  and  sometimes 
flashing  up  instantaneously  with  each  activity — there  has 
been  an  accompaniment  of  emotion,  over  which  the  acting 
powers  have  but  little  control,  but  in  which  they  have  a 
lively  interest.  This  is  that  part  of  the  experience  which  is 
controlled  and  regulated  by  the  Supreme  Will,  who  gives  the 
acting  powers,  and  is  not  made  immediately  subject  to  the 
created  will,  which  has  only  the  control  of  the  activities  in 
which  the  emotions  rise,— that  is  to  say,  the  personal  will 
cannot  overrule  or  change  the  methods  of  the  acting  parties, 
and  one  of  these  (the  emotioral)  cannot  be  self-originated 
because  that  is  not  its  law,  and  the  whole  endowment  must 
act  according  to  its  own  structural  laws. 

For  the  reason  mentioned,  the  emotional  is  not  cumulative, 
like  knowledge,  and  cannot,  in  tliat  way,  be  an  element  of 
increase  to  the  endowment,  but  it  is  an  element  of  increase 


80  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

in  forminj?  and  confirming  the  disposition  and  character,  by 
tlie  choices  made  in  reference  to  the  different  kinds  and 
qualities  of  the  emotions,  which  enter  into  its  daily  ex- 
perience, and  in  which  it  formis  for  itself  a  governing 
purpose.  In  this  it  chooses  for  itself,  and  so  becomes  self- 
made. 

All  character  is  self-made,  and  so  becomes  responsible. 

But  this  emotional  department  is  so  vast  in  its  extent,  so 
varied  in  its  forms  and  precedents,  and  the  potencies  which 
operate  in  their  manifestation  are  so  inconceivably  great, 
that  a  wide  diversity  of  character  will  always  be  the  result 
in  any  community,  unless  all  are  united  on  one  line  of 
motive,  and  with  one  governing  purpose. 

The  lines  of  separation  may  be  nearly  parallel,  but  unless 
entirely  so,  the  separation  must  increase  indefinitely. 

Take  the  case  of  two  persons,  say,  in  the  same  community, 
and  with  the  same  surroundings,  and  with  the  same  edu- 
cation, who  have  passed  through  life  with  the  usual  busy 
activities  connected  with  business  or  professional  trans- 
actions, but  with  this  difference,  that  one  in  all  his  w^ork  has 
recognized  his  relation  to  his  Creator  and  Redeemer — and 
the  other  has  not.  One  has  been  co-operating  with  his 
Creator  in  the  plan  of  his  being.  The  other  has  not  had  any 
plan,  except  to  carry  out  the  purposes  of  his  own  will.  He 
has  not  seen  God  in  anything,  or  if  he  has  seen  Him,  he  has 
not  inquired  of  Him,  or  sought  His  counsel,  or  His  wall,  or 
His  judgment,  or  His  purpose,  or  His  plans. 

The  difference  in  these  two  peraonalities,  as  they  stand 
together,  side  by  side,  at  the  close  of  their  first  term  of  life, 
and  about  to  enter  eternity,  is  very  great.  The  increase  in 
the  one  has  been  moral  and  spiritual,  and  along  the  line  of 
that  which  is  eternal  and  abiding.  The  increase  in  the  other 
has  been  the  accumulation  of  facts  and  knowledge,  withoui 
any  practical  sense  of  what  is  ultimate  and  eternal.  There 
may  be  no  particular  use,  any  longer,  in  that  kind  of  knowl- 
edge, and  in  that  class  of  facts,  as  such.  There  may  be  no 
harm  in  having  had  that  expwience,  and  the  knowledge  and 


CONCLUSION  OF  PART   FIRST.  81 

the  facts,  simply,  as  such,  will  not  necessarily  incapacitate 
him  for  a  different  kind  of  knowledge  and  a  new  class  of 
facts, — not  at  all, — but  neither  does  it  fit  him,  or  capacitate 
him,  or  qualify  him,  or  prepare  him  for  them,  and  for  all  the 
new  transactions  which  are  to  be  the  next  proceedings  in  the 
great  plan  of  being. 

Those  proceedings  call  for  a  pure  heart  and  a  right  spirit, 
and  this  is  imperative,  as  the  duration  is  to  be  eternal.  Tlie 
elements  of  the  endowment  are  themselves  eternal,  and  if 
they  come,  cleansed  and  purified  from  all  that  has  been 
wrong,  in  their  own  personal  activities,  and  the  executive — 
the  party  who  has  the  control  of  the  endowment — is  in  full 
accord  and  harmony  with  the  Supreme  Executive, — then, 
and  then  only,  the  endowment  is  capacitated,  and  qualified, 
and  prepared,  fcr  all  the  new  activities  and  new  experiences 
in  the  kingdom  of  God.  To  such  a  person,  so  coming,  all 
previous  knowledge  gained  in  the  first  term  of  life,  is  also, 
we  cannot  doubt,  a  positive  and  permanent  gain,  and  cannot, 
in  any  manner,  be  considered  a  detriment  or  loss.  But  the 
special  substantial  gain  and  increase,  which  is  now  to  be 
made  available  in  the  eternal  life,  in  the  presence  of  the 
Creator,  is  the  self-control  and  self-possession  of  a  pure 
spirit — not  any  longer  a  mere  potential  capacity  to  become, — 
but  that  which  has  become,  and  is,  an  agency  of  power,  and 
dignity,  and  worthiness,  ready  and  qualified  to  do  His  will 
and  to  execute  His  commands. 

The  other  may  also  have  gained  a  self-control  and  a  self- 
possession,  but  it  has  been  a  self  for  self,  and  has  left  out  the 
Author  of  his  being,  and  if  he  enters  into  His  presence,  it 
will  be  the  presence  of  a  stranger — One  whom  he  has  not 
sought  to  know,  and  all  the  proceedings  there  being  in  direct 
reference  to  Him,  it  is  difficult  to  imagine  what  such  a 
pejson  could  find  in  his  own  line  of  thought  or  action  in  such 
transactions. 

We  will  now  inquire  as  to  what  will  be  carried  into  that  life. 

III.  The  continuity  of  the  things  received.  When  the  decisions 
of  the  personal  will  have  produced  an  unchanging  perma- 


82  THE  MENTAL   PLAN. 

nence  of  character,  whether  for  good  or  for  evil,  the  future 
experience  will  continue  on  in  the  same  line. 

We  may  now  ask  whether,  in  the  plan  of  being — in  the 
powers  given — there  will  be  any  pow^er  to  cast  off — separate 
from  itself — any  portion  of  its  experience.  Must  everything 
go  on — be  held  and  carried  on — in  an  eternal  duration  ? 
Does  the  holding  power — the  memory — exclude  the  power  of 
casting  off  ?  What  we  take,  must  we  carry?  The  powers  given 
in  the  endowment  are  to  be  of  eternal  duration.  Now  will 
all  that  which  is  received  in  an  experience,  in  the  use  of  these 
powers,  become  so  united  to  the  personality  as  to  be,  itself,  a 
spiritual  property,  and  therefore  eternal  ? 

We  answer  this  by  asking  another — What  is  the  purpose 
in  beginning,  or  in  proceeding  at  all,  if  we  are  not  to  carry 
what  we  find,  what  we  get,  what  we  work  in  with  our  own 
strength  and  our  own  will  ? 

It  will  be  conditional,  in  the  first  term  of  life,  that  the  past 
shall  not  constantly  intrude  upon  the  present — things  must 
step  aside,  when  they  have  had  place,  and  make  way  for 
others, — but  that  which  has  been  has  made  its  record,  and 
all  must  go  on.  That  which  has  been  formative  of  character 
and  ruling  purpose  must  continue  inseparably  with  the 
personality,  or  this  character  and  ruling  purpose  might  drop 
out,  some  day,  and  the  personality  go  with  them,  and  being 
itself  be  reduced  to  its  first  initial  condition,  with  nothing  in 
hand. 

But  in  regard  to  the  memory,  also,  of  the  prominent  facts 
in  experience,  we  may  notice  that  this  experience  will  be  on 
premises  where  changes  will  be  possible  and  corrective  and 
remedial  agencies  can  be  brought  to  bear, — possibly  the 
responsibility,  in  some  manner,  taken  by  another,  and  so 
removed — possibly  the  penalty  taken  by  another,  and  so 
averted — possibly  a  new  creating  and  renewing  power 
received  (from  another)  and  brought  into  the  experience, 
and  although  no  thought  or  act  can  be  annulled,  its  potency 
and  quality  can  be  changed,  and  the  memory  of  it  be  in  a 
new  light  altogether. 


CONCLUSION   OF   PART   FIRST.  8? 

This,  if  done,  can  only  be  done  by  Him  who  creates  the 
endowment,  and  only  received  by  those  who  accept  it,  on 
known  conditions. 

But  we  are  to  look  at  this  matter  of  carrying  everything 
on — by  and  by— in  a  different  organism,  and  with  greater 
powers,  and  with  different  surroundings,  and  that  whatever 
may  be  the  confusion  now,  there  will  be  no  confusion  then, 
to  those  who  are  permitted  to  enter  into  the  presence  of  their 
Creator.  The  potency  of  spiritual  being  will  then  be  found 
to  be  sufficient  for  all  the  facts  of  the  most  varied  experience. 
This  will  be  noticed  again,  briefly,  in  Part  Second,  at  the- 
close. 

We  must  also  hold  fast  the  first  condition  found,  that  the 
plan  of  rational  being  must  be  immutable.  In  it  nothing 
must  be  placed  as  elemental,  which  cannot  go  on  in  its 
eternal  duration,  and  nothing  omitted  which  will  be  needed 
in  an  eternal  duration.  Its  powers  are  not  to  be  some 
of  them  permanent  and  sonoe  transient,  but  all  perma- 
nent and  none  transient.  They  must  together  form  one 
complete  and  perfect  whole.  We  are  not  to  suppose  that  in 
the  spiritual  life,  some  are  to  be  dropped  and  others  taken, 
or  that  any  change  whatever  is  to  take  place  there,  in  the 
make-up  of  the  endowment.  All  that  was  needed  in  the 
beginning  will  be  needed  in  eternity,  and  no  more  and  no 
less.  The  receptive,  because  to  omit  that  would  be  to  come 
to  a  dead  halt, — the  emotional,  because  to  omit  that  would 
be  to  throw  away  all  the  grand  purposes  and  results  of  a 
rationality, — the  retentive,  because  to  omit  that  would  be  to 
return  to  a  blank  endowment  with  nothing  in  hand,— the 
discursive,  constructive,  and  interpreting  powers,  because  to 
omit  them  would  be  to  put  a  stop  to  proceedings,  just  when 
the  great  proceedings  are  to  begin  on  their  eternal  premises, 
and  the  whole  Universe  to  be  thrown  open  to  the  study,  and 
investigation,  and  wondering  delight  of  the  mighty  hosts 
gathered  there,  and  this  very  plan  of  being  unfolded  in  the 
beauty,  and  grandeur,  and  unspeakable  glory  of  its  pro- 
gressive fulfillment,— the  executive,  because  to  omit  that 


84  THE  MENTAL   PLAN. 

would  be  to  invite  confusion  and  chaos  instead  of  order  and 
control, — and  the  judicial,  because  to  omit  that  would  be  to  be 
without  the  inner  witness  of  that  distinct  personality,  which 
must  bear  its  own  testimony  to  the  dignity  and  worthiness  of 
spiritual  being,  without  which  the  commendation  of  others, 
or  of  the  Creator,  would  not  be  commendation. 

For  the  Spirit  bears  witness  with  the  redeemed  children,  and 
the  fellowship  is,  and  is  to  be,  united  and  reciprocal. 

lY.  The  endowment  completed.  If,  then,  we  say  that  the 
endowment  has  now  been  found  in  its  completeness,  and 
that  there  cannot  be  any  other  factors  than  those  we  have 
named  and  their  sub-connections,  the  inquiry  may  be  made 
as  to  the  proof, — and  the  answer  must  be,  that  the-e  powers 
already  make  provision  for  all  that  can  enter  into  any 
rational  experience,  because  they  are  to  go  on  in  an  endless 
duration.  Separate  from  this  last  condition  of  continuing 
their  activities  beyond  the  range  of  what  we  call  time,  and 
so  on,  indefinitely,  in  what  we  call  eternity,  it  might  be 
objected  that  there  was  something  lacking  in  such  a  rational 
scheme.  In  the  time  connection  a  good  many  matters  are 
left  fragmentary,  incomplete,  unfinished,  and  very  far  from 
being  properly  placed,  if  there  is  to  be  no  continuity,  no 
further  progress,  no  new  acquisitions  and  facts  that  show  a 
connection  with  what  has  come  first  in  a  time  experience. 
But  seeing  that  this  is  secured  beyond  any  question,  then,  in 
the  progress,  all  will  be  reached  that  can  be  reached,  and  all 
will  be  received  that  can  be  carried,  and  to  those  who  enter 
into  the  dwelling  of  the  Most  High  there  will  be  the  fullness 
of  joy.    The  word  fullness  expresses  completeness. 

That  the  surroundings  will  be  vastly  different,  and  the 
organic  capacity  in  the  spiritual  body  quite  inconceivable, 
and  the  facts  of  a  higher  order  and  wholly  beyond  any  reach 
of  our  thought  and  conception  until  we  stand  among  them, 
we  must  admit, — but  the  endowment  will  always  be  adequate 
for  the  facts  as  they  present  themselves,  and  this  will  give  it 
all  the  p^rfectness  of  a  completed  plan.  Anythins:  additional, 
as  faculty,  or  any  greater  potency  ihan   what  is  already 


CONCLUSION   OF   PART   FIKST.  8-5 

given  in  faculty — if  that  were  po  ^sible — would  be,  we  sluniUl 
judge,  a  detriment  instead  of  a  betterment.  As  spirit,  it  will 
have  already  tl;e  highest  potency  that  can  be  given,  and  as 
faculty  it  lias  unlimited  expansion  and  unlimited  duration. 
From  the  beginning  it  has  been  adequate,  and  fitted,  and 
adapted  to  its  surroundings, — and  to  those  who  enter  where 
the  Creator  lias  His  dwelling  place,  we  do  not  doubt  the 
adequateness,  and  the  fitness,  and  the  adaptedness,  will  be 
continued,  world  without  end. 

There  is  one  consideration  only  that  suggests  a  possible 
addition  of  some  faculty  in  the  spiritual  realm,  which  might 
be  latent  and  undeveloped  in  the  prior  time  experience.  The 
factors,  f.s  found,  do  not  show  themselves  except  as  they  are 
called  for,  and  do  not  all  appear  in  company  with  each  other 
at  the  beginning.  There  is  a  responsiveness  in  the  first 
activities,  and  one  by  one  they  are  developed,  as  the  outv/ard 
or  inward  fact  or  experience  demands  its  attention  and 
action.  It  may,  therefore,  be  suggested  that  in  the  spiritual 
realm  the  new  facts  may  there  demand  and  develop  new 
faculties  for  their  proper  receptii^n  and  interpretation.  But 
in  what  has  been  found,  there  is  already  in  si>ir;t,  as  spirit, 
the  capacity  of  being  impressed  by  the  onl.v  kn  )vv.i  realities, 
the  persnnal  and  the  impersonal;  and  it  is  th.rough  this 
capacity  that  it  becomes  receptive,  and  as  it  is  already 
receptive  of  all  that  can  now  co  jie  to  it,  and  as  it  cannot  put 
away  this  receptiveness  when  it  enters  the  spiritual  realm, — 
then,  unless  it  i  an  be  proved  that  its  receiving  is  not  a  true 
reception,  and  is  defective, — and  its  thinking  is  not  true 
thought, — and  its  emotion  is  not  real,  but  someway  im- 
perfect,— and  its  will  is  not  a  true  will,  but  lacking  in  some 
particular, — and  its  reason  is  not  true  reason, — in  short, 
unless  the  Creator  has  made  a  defective  endowment  in  the 
beginning,  it  will  be  complete  at  first,  and  lacking  nothing 
for  all  that  is  before  it. 

We  have  now,  in  these  outlines,  the  plan  of  rational  being — 
the  mental  plan,  so  far  as  we  can  trace  it,  separate  from 
revelation.    We  comprehend  it  as  the  completed  plan,  in  the 


86  THE   MENTAL   PLAN. 

conditions  which  have  been  pointed  out,  to  wit :  immutability 
in  the  rational  constituents ;  increase — beginning  at  a  begin- 
ning— i.  e.,  at  the  lowest  level  of  a  rational  activity  ;  on  this 
level,  protection  and  restriction  by  a  compulsory  agency,  and 
this  agency  impersonal ;  connecti  in  with  this  restrictive 
agency  in  an  organized  form,  and  in  a  cosmos  of  impersonal 
agencies,  for  a  limited  term ;  relationship,  likeness,  eternal 
duration. 

In  this  created  endowment,  the  powers  given  and  con- 
tinued immutably  in  all  the  above  conditions,  are  the  follow- 
ing, to  wit:  the  receptive,  the  emotional,  the  retentive,  the 
constructive,  the  intuitive,  the  judicial,  and  the  executive — 
with  each  their  interlocked  sub-connections — forming,  in  all, 
one  personality. 

V.  The  formula.  The  formula  for  the  endowment  may  be 
expressed  as  follows,  to  wit :  The  rational  endowment  is  a 
spiritual,  emotional  capacity  to  receive,  hold,  comprehend, 
and  interpret  the  facts  and  laws  of  being  in  an  eternal  pro- 
gre  fusion. 

VI.  The  experience  needed.  These  are  the  powers  given, 
but  as  they  are  at  first  only  potential,  they  can  only  come  up 
into  strength  and  efliciency  in  a  time  process,  and  by  repeated 
dealings  with  the  facts  and  laws  set  forth  in  symbolic  forms, — 
and  as  at  first,  in  the  simplest  acquisitions,  it  is  step  by  step, 
slowly,  and  by  a  process  or  proceeding  in  which  there  is  an 
active  and  persistent  use  of  the  powers  given, — and  as  the 
endowment  is  shut  up  to  this  method,  and  this  only,  by  the 
fact  that  it  begins  with  nothing  in  hand,  and  so  would 
otherwise  remain  a  blank  capacity, — so,  in  like  manner,  the 
powers  given  in  reference  to  spiritual  facts  and  laws,  are 
potential  only,  and  will  remain  a  blank  capacity  unless 
brought  into  use,  and  for  them,  also,  a  time  process  is  called 
for,  and  a  practical  dealing  with  spiritual  facts  and  laws,  in 
a  personal  experience,  and  by  the  same  active  and  persistent 
use  of  the  powers  given,  as  in  the  acquisition  of  other  facts, 
and  precisely  because  each  one  must  begin  without  this 
experience,  with  nothing  in  hand,  there  must  be  this  experi- 


CONCLUSION   OF    PART   FIRST.  87 

ence  that  there  may  be  something  in  hand,  and  the  experience 
must  be  that  in  which  the  whole  personality  shall  be  the 
acting  and  responsible  party. 

But  this  cannot  be  given,  or  handed  over,  ready-made,  but 
must  be  wrought  out  by  each  one,  according  to  God's  plan. 

There  can  be  no  other,  and  so  we  have  a  world  rolling 
through  the  great  deep,  and  man  placed  in  it,  with  the 
powers  and  mateiials  at  hand  for  his  work  and  his  experience. 
In  this  work  and  experience  he  becomes  a  personal,  rational, 
responsible  agent,  and  takes  his  place  in  the  realm  of  spiritual 
being. 


END  OF  PART   FIRST. 


PART  SECOND. 


PART  SECOND. 


THE  CREATOR  IN  ALL,  THINGS. 


THE   PLAN   OF   OUR   BEING   PERFECTED  IN  CHRIST. 

Any  scheme  of  rational  being  which  should  exclude  the 
possibilities  of  evil  in  a  first  experience,  would  be  (to  us) 
inconceivable.  That  department  of  the  endowment  which 
gives  a  judgment  of  right  and  wrong,  we  may  suppose,  would 
inevitably  come  into  collision  with  the  facts  which  would 
give  it  something  to  do.  So  far  from  its  being  a  strange 
thing  that  there  should  be  sin  in  the  world,  the  strangeness 
would  be  that  it  should  ever  be  free  of  it. 

The  mental  plan,  which  has  been  sketched  in  its  outlines, 
we  propose  now  to  examine,  in  reference  to  any  preparation 
in  it  for  such  further  developments  as  have  actually  taken 
place  in  experience,  in  the  history  of  the  human  race, 
including  the  great  facts  of  moral  evil,  the  opposition  of  the 
human  to  the  Supreme  Will,  and  the  coming  of  Christ  as 
our  Saviour  and  Redeemer. 

No  attempt  will  be  made  to  explain  what  is  beyond  our 
reach  in  these  transactions,  but  we  shall  endeavor  to  point 
out  the  initial  and  fundamental  adaptation  of  the  mental  to 
the  Christian  structure,  not  in  the  constituents  only,  but  in 
the  whole  plan  of  our  being,  and  that  the  very  way  in  which 
mind  forms  itself,  and  does  its  work,  and  finds  its  enjoyment, 
is  itself  a  proof  of  the  correctness  of  Christ's  teachings. 

To  that  extent,  this  line  of  investigation  will  establish  a 
(91) 


yli  THE   CREATOK   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

philosopbical  basis  for  Christian  doctrine,  and  it  will  be  seen 
that  the  plan  of  our  being  is  not  completed  until  perfected  in. 
and  through  Christ. 

In  God's  Word  we  have  the  revelation  that  this  piau,  as 
determined  in  eternity  before  the  foundation  of  the  woild, 
included  a  prospective  participation  in  the  human  nature 
that  was  to  be  created. 

It  was  not  merely  that  a  free  endowmeut  should  be  given 
to  all,  and  a  world  created  with  special  and  wonderful 
adaptation  to  the  first  activities  of  the  multitudes  who  should 
there  make  their  appearance,  and  that  a  body  should  be  pre- 
pared for  each,  in  which  the  powers  given  in  the  endowment 
should  begin  their  activity,  and  find  their  work  and  their 
purpose, — but  in  addition  to  this  creating  and  sustaining 
work,  which  was  never  to  cease,  it  was  planned  that  the  Son 
of  God,  at  a  time  appointed,  should  associate  Himself — in  a 
still  more  intima'  e  and  wholly  different  way — with  humanity, 
by  taking  the  same  nature,  in  a  body  composed  of  the  same 
elements  in  which  that  nature,  in  its  endowment,  had  been 
placed.  This  personal  union  of  God  with  man,  in  a  way 
entirely  new  and  additional,  was  fully  accomplished  when 
Christ  came,  and  becomes  a  very  peculiar  and  wonderful 
factor  in  the  plan  of  our  being. 

Believing  the  Bible,  in  its  statements  of  the  entrance  of 
sin  and  its  consequences,  to  be  absolutely  true,  and  without 
any  qualitication  whatever, — believing,  also,  that  it  is  owing 
to  the  worthiness,  and  purity,  and  holiness  of  spiritual  being 
in  its  best  estate,  that  any  (the  slightest)  departure  or  lapse 
from  that  purity  and  holiness,  unless  it  receive  adequate  power 
from  some  supernatural  source,  will,  from  the  very  potency  of 
its  elements,  go  on  to  increase  indefinitely,  from  the  inevitable 
working  of  its  own  structural  law  of  increase,  which  we  have 
found  in  the  Mental  Plan, — we  also  further  believe  and  know 
that  Christ  came  to  bring  precisely  that  supernatural  power, 
to  all  who  will  receive  Him,  and  that  the  work— additional 
to  that  of  atonement — which  He  specially  does  for  His 
people,  is  in  winning  to  Himself  the  personal  will,  and 


THE   CKEATOU   IN    ALL   THINGS.  93 

xmiting  Himself  with  that  self-made  and  self-begotten  per- 
sonality which  the  individual  has  built  up  of  his  own  choice, 
and  to  which  he  gives  the  power  to  become  a  child  of  God, 
and  joint  heir  with  Himself  to  the  inheritance  which  has 
been  reserved  for  the  people  of  God. 

We  believe,  also,  that  for  the  same  reasons  that  the  con- 
stituent indwelling  elements  of  rational  being  are  created 
unchangeable  and  eternal,  so,  also,  this  additional  union 
with  God  in  Christ,  must  be,  in  like  manner,  indwelling, 
unchangeable  and  eternal. 

We  believe,  also,  that  in  order  to  do  this,  the  act  of  accept- 
ance must  carry  the  whole  personality  with  it ;  and  although 
it  may  be  done  instantly,  and  is  so  done  by  thousands  and 
thousands,  on  a  proper  presentation  of  the  truth,  yet  in  other 
cases — and,  perhaps,  in  general — it  is  only  through  a  long 
discipline,— but,  in  any  case,  nothing  is  accomplished  until 
the  depraved  will  accepts  the  will  of  the  Father,  and  the 
whole  spiritual  being  is  turned  loyally  and  joyfully  to  the 
Creator  and  Redeemer,  in  the  new  covenant. 

In  this  the  plan  of  being  is  revealed  as  a  plan  of  the  most 
Intimate  fellowship  with  Him  who  creates,  and  with  Him 
who  redeems,  and  with  Him  who  sanctifies. 

It  might  be  expected  from  the  first,  as  we  have  elsewhere 
noted,  that  a  plan  of  rationality  which  begins  and  is  con- 
tinued by  a  constant  and  inseparable  association  with  its 
invisible  Creator  (in  its  basis  of  being),  must  look  forward  to 
a  visible  association  with  Him,  as  something  possible  at  a 
future  period.  The  coming  of  Christ  is  now  an  additional 
and  most  astonishing  evidence  that  the  Creator  can  bring 
Himself  into  fellowship  with  created  personalities  of  our 
order,  and  that,  for  us,  the  plan  of  our  being  is,  and  has  been 
from  the  beginning,  this  very  plan  of  fellowship — and  that 
the  Creator  does  not  merely  permit,  but  designs  and  arranges 
terms  of  fellowship  and  communion  with  Himself,  through 
His  Son,  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Furthermore,  in  order  that 
this  fellowship  may  begin  at  once,  and  be  in  the  plan  of  being 
for  every  soul  that  is  born  into  the  world,  the  Third  Person, 


94  rilK   CKKATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

the  Holy  Spirit,  is  everywhere  invisibly  present,  to  lead  and 
guide  into  all  truth. 

This  completes  the  plan  of  rational  being  for  humanity. 
There  is  no  room  for  anything  more  that  could  be  done  for 
the  human  race,  without  interfering  with  the  freedom  of  the 
created  personality. 

It  is  further  revealed,  in  this  necessity  for  a  second  and 
new  kind  of  co-operation  from  the  Creator,  that  our  human 
life  was  planned  to  be  a  life  of  spiritual  warfare,  and  that  (in 
general)  the  securities  of  Christian  peace  and  joy  can  only  be 
attained  by  a  formative  and  informing  process  of  discipline, 
temptation  and  suffering. 

Sin  and  evil  must  he  rnet,  and  must  he  overcome^  once  for  all. 
For  this,  Christ  gives,  to  those  ivho  desire  it,  bcth  the  will  and 
the  power. 

We  will  now  examine  the  mental  outlines,  in  the  light  of 
these  new  facts,  which  are  revealed  to  us  both  in  the  Word 
and  in  Christian  experience,  and  show,  briefly,  that  the 
mental  structure  prepares  the  way  for  the  Christian  struc- 
ture— that  Christ's  precepts,  however  strange,  are  strictly 
adapted  to  the  endowment  given,  and  that  the  spirit  of  man 
is  still  accessible  to  the  power  and  love  of  the  Spirit  of  God. 

Before  going  into  these  particulars,  we  may  notice  that 
any  mediation,  in  case  of  separation,  between  the  Supreme 
Will  and  the  created  will,  could  take  place  only  on  premises 
separate  from  the  immediate  presence  of  the  Creator,  and  so 
as  a  prepared  cosmos  was  seen  to  be  necessary  for  the  local- 
ized beginning  of  the  endowment,  the  mediation  would  need 
to  be  in  the  same  time  limit,  and  on  the  same  premises 
already  provided  for  the  endowment  in  its  formative  state, 
so  that  the  benefit  of  it  could  be  appropriated  in  the  time  of 
its  utmost  need,  and  made  personal  to  itself  by  a  personal 
acceptance,  and  be  worked  in  in  the  formation  of  character. 
The  mediation  would  not  only  need  to  be  on  the  same 
premises,  but  in  the  same  endowment,  and  with  the  same 
organic  connection  with  impersonal  force,  and  so  become  one 
with  the  contending  parties.    So,  of  any  suffering  for  others, 


THE  CREATOR  IN   ALL   TIIIXGS.  95 

one  form  of  it,  at  least,  would  have  been  omitted,  if  it  had 
not  been  in  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood. 

But  before  a  mediation  could  be  effective,  there  would 
need  to  be  a  power  of  mediation,  a  satisfaction  for  the  sins  of 
the  world,  an  atonement  made,  by  virtue  of  which  a  mediation 
could  be  proposed  and  accepted  by  the  Father.  If  this  was 
not  necessary,  then  it  was  by  no  means  necessary  that  Christ 
should  come  into  the  world,  and  still  less  that  He  should  die 
upon  the  Cross.  In  such  case,  the  mediation  could  have  been 
announced  as  having  already  taken  place  in  the  Heavenly 
Councils,  in  some  way  unknown  to  us,  and  that  a  general 
proclamation  might  be  looked  for,  in  the  great  day,  of  uni- 
versal pardon  to  the  whole  race.  The  facts  and  the  record  are 
exactly  contrary  to  this,  and  point  to  no  mediation  beyond  the 
grave. 

Furthermore,  our  reason  tells  us  that  the  terms  and  con- 
ditions must  be  cordially  accepted ,  and  their  power  for  good 
must  be  wrought  into  the  soul's  experience,  in  order  that  it 
may  be  personally  our  own,  or  even  received. 

If  these  precepts  and  conditions  set  forth,  are  in  some  par- 
ticulars exceedingly  contrary  and  distasteful  to  the  parties 
concerned,  we  might  ask  whether  the  Creator  would  make 
the  plan  of  being  such  as  to  unconsciously  prepare  them  for 
their  reception. 

"When  God  wants  to  give  men  knowledge  which  they 
have  not  had  before.  He  always  opens  it  to  them  out  of  some- 
thing which  they  have  already  known."  {Phillips  Brooks.) 

We  will  begin  with  that  most  unwelcome  precept,  which 
Christ  so  often  brought  before  His  disciples,  and  one  that 
lies  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  Christian  experience. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE    ENDOWMENT,    BEGINNING    IN    AN     OUTWARD    AND 

VISIBLE  PRESENTATION  OF  TRUTH,  PRECEDES  AND 

PREPARES  THE  WAY  FOR  THE  INVISIBLE,  AND 

FOR    ALL    THE    TEACHINGS    OF    CHRIST. 

The  Ground-work  of  these  Teachings,  as  found  in  the  Endow- 
ment, and  in  the  Method  of  its  Construction,  and 
in  its  Connection  ivith  Cosmical  Force. 

I.  Self-denial.  We  will  examine  this  in  reference  to  the 
beginning  of  our  existence  —  the  starting-point — the  struc- 
tural basis,  in  which  and  upon  which,  the  endowment  com- 
mences its  activity. 

First,  we  notice  the  extreme  restriction  put  upon  the  spirit, 
rn  the  body  in  which  it  is  placed.  This  restriction  is  not 
delayed,  and  put  off,  until  the  spirit  has  come  up  into 
strength  and  acquisitions  of  its  own,  but  is  put  around  it  at 
the  first.  The  incoming  party  begins  (1)  at  the  very  lowest 
point  of  helplessness  and  dependence — (2)  is  constantly  shut 
in  and  restrained  by  its  flesh  and  blood  connections — (3)  its 
powers  constantly  baflled  and  resisted  by  the  stubbornness  of 
the  impersonal  force  agencies  in  which  it  finds  itself — (4)  is 
often  shocked  and  bewildered  beyond  measure  by  the  pain 
and  suffering  which  comes  to  it  from  its  close  connection 
and  mysterious  sympathy  with  its  life  organization — (5)  is  fuli 
of  a  potency  as  spirit,  Avhich  it  cannot  fully  express,  and  never 
can  get  delivered  of — except  in  the  partial  manifestation 
through  sound  and  other  outward  forms  and  symbols — so 
that  there  is  always  a  feeling  of  defect  and  incompleteness  in 
its  efforts — and  (6)  all  this  is  compidsory.  It  had  no  agency 
in  bringing  it  about,  and  so  it  cannot  escape  fi'om  it.  There 
(96) 


SELF-DEKIAL.  07 

is,  in  these,  and  in  very  many  other  particulars,  a  compulsory 
self-denial,  and  we  ask  whether  it  is  not  a  great  and  constant, 
though  unconscious  preparation,  for  a  voluntary  Christian 
.  self-denial,  and  for  all  the  other  connections  in  Christian 
doctrine  founded  upon  that  precept. 

We  are  born,  and  grow  up,  in  this  restriction — become 
accustomed  to  it — see,  perhaps,  partially,  the  necessity  of  it, 
but  seldom  think  of  it  as  part  of  the  plan  of  being,  in  con- 
nection with  the  coming  and  teaching  of  Christ. 

These  lines  of  preparation  and  coincidence  can  be  found, 
by  those  who  choose  to  look  for  them,  in  every  possible 
direction.  We  notice  only  this — as  specially  peculiar  to  the 
characteristic  of  self-denial — that  it  is  the  potency,  and  the 
dignity  and  worthiness  of  the  agent  that  makes  a  self-denial 
possible.  There  is  no  want  unsatisfied  in  the  brute  animal, 
and  there  can  be  no  proper  self-denial.  It  is  not  a  denial  of 
self  to  it,  that  it  is  shut  up  in  a  body.  It  suits  it,  is  adapted 
to  it,  and  is  limited  within  it.    It  desires  nothing  more. 

If,  therefore,  One  comes  down  from  heaven,  and  sets  forth 
this  precept  to  Ilis  disciples,  He  therein  attests  the  greatness 
and  the  worthiness  of  their  spiritual  endowment,  and  gives 
an  added  proof  of  the  condition  found  in  the  Mental  Plan — 
which  was,  that  it  would  need  to  have,  as  a  rational  endow- 
ment, an  exceeding  and  inconceivable  potency  and  greatness 
in  its  elements. 

In  this  light,  also,  two  great  truths  come  into  view.  One, 
the  intxpressihie  greatness  of  His  own  self-denial  in  appearing 
and  acting  within  these  restrictions,  and  the  other  that  as 
Spirit,  and  identical  with  the  creating  spirit,  it  became 
possible  for  Him  so  to  do.  For  if  the  human  spirit  [to 
■nVEVfja),  had  not  been,  as  such,  iden'.ical  with  the  Divine  in 
its  constituents,  there  could  have  been  no  union  possible, 
and  the  prayer,  ''Even  as  Thou,  Father,  art  in  me,  and  I  in 
Thee,  that  they  also  may  be  in  us,"  could  not  have  been 
offered  or  accepted. 

2.  The  ground  of  self-denial  {whether  known,  or  recog- 
nized, or  not)  is,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  built  into  the  very 


98  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

structure  of  mind,  in  this,  that  it  must  go  abroad,  aicay  from 
self,  in  its  beginning,  to  find  either  the  material  for  its  thought 
or  the  sources  of  its  enjoyment.  It  is  in  its  constant  receptive- 
ness,  and  in  a  constant  provision  of  somewhat  constantly 
ready  to  be  taken,  that  it  continues,  and  has  a  motive  to' 
continue  on,  into  the  future  that  is  before  it.  We  live  in 
others,  and  in  our  surroundings  a  thousand  times  more  than 
in  our  own  individual  and  separate  personality.  This  becomes 
evident  w^hen  our  immediate  circle  of  relatives  and  friends 
is  broken  up,  and  we  are  left  alone.  Here  we  have  the  reason , 
also,  for  this— that  when  we  have  become  satisfied  to  have 
our  life  not  exclusively  oiu'  own  any  longer,  but  hid  with 
Christ  in  God,  we  have  found  the  hidden  mystery  of  our 
being  made  plain, — for  then  all  things  are  ours  {in  Him). 

3.  The  unused  and  undeveloped  endowment  needs  to  be 
helped  in  finding  its  proper  methods  of  activity,  and  if  this 
can  be  done  silently  and  unobtrusively,  by  unseen  agencies, 
they  can  work  together  on  the  same  line,  and  this  will  con- 
stitute a  kind  of  helpful  association,  which  we  may  designate, 

II.  Co-operation.  From  the  beginning  there  is  to  be  a  co- 
working — at  first  unconscious — on  the  part  of  the  human 
spirit,  but  a  great  fact,  to  be  recognized  as  soon  as  it  makes 
any  rational  inquiry  into  its  own  being  and  its  relations  to 
the  Creator.  In  the  very  first  act  put  forth  by  the  newly- 
created  spirit — that  of  perception — the  Creator,  unseen,  holds 
before  it,  steadily,  in  form  and  color,  the  object  for  the  per- 
ception of  which  the  same  Creator  has  previously  prepared 
a  receptive  spiritual  power,  adequate  to  take  the  pi'-ture,  and 
a  wonderful  organism  through  which  it  can  enter  and  make 
its  report.  So  there  is  a  complex  co-operation  here,  at  the 
very  start,  in  which  the  unseen  Creator  very  gently  helps  the 
incoming  party  into  its  first  activity,  which  is  simply  that  of 
taking  what  is  given.  It  is,  however,  a  true  beginning,  and  a 
true,  though  unconscious,  co-operation  with  its  Creator. 

As  the  plow  turns  the  furrow  and  the  seed  is  dropped, 
another  agency  (unseeyi)  takes  hold  of  it,  brings  it  light  and 
heat  from  a  vast  world,  which  He  had  placed  nearly  a  hundred 


CO-OPERATION.  99^ 

millions  of  miles  away,  so  as  to  precisely  suit  the  want  of 
neither  too  much  or  too  little  to  the  seed,  which  He  had  also 
created,  and  the  ground,  which  He  had  made,  and  the  rain 
that  is  to  help,  and  the  life  forces,  which  are  soon  to  show 
themselves  in  the  field,  where  this  same  unseen  agency  is  ta 
raise  them  up  in  a  waving  harvest  of  thousands,  and  thou- 
sands, and  thousands,  and  here  has  been  a  co-working,  in 
which  almost  the  whole  has  been  done  by  this  unseen  party, 
and  the  plowing  and  dropping  of  the  seed  by  the  other.  It 
has  been,  in  its  way,  a  co-operative  work.  The  Divine  and 
the  human  have  been  working  together,  and  according  to 
fixed  laws,  created  by  one  and  obeyed  by  both. 

The  mason,  as  he  lays  the  wall  of  some  structure,  uses 
the  clay  which  the  Creator  has  made,  burned  in  the  fire 
which  He  furnishes,  and  puts  his  plumb-line  to  the  wall,  to 
see  if  it  stands  exactly  on  that  vertical  in  which  the  Creator 
holds  all  things  to  a  common  centre, — and  the  carpenter 
comes  with  the  timber  which  the  Creator  has  grown,  and  the 
lumber  which  has  been  sawed  out  by  the  power  which  He 
has  furnished ;  and  when  the  family  gather  under  that  roof, 
and  sit  down  at  the  table,  it  is  to  eat  of  the  bread  which 
came  from  the  seed  provided  by  Him,  and  when  they  lie 
down  at  night  the  world  is  rolled  around  noiselessly  into  the 
darkness,  that  they  may  quietly  rest  and  sleep,  and  still  kept 
on  rolling,  that  they  may  have  the  sunshine  in  the  morning. 

It  is  the  unseen  agency,  everywhere,  but  it  is  constant,  and 
faithful,  and  true.  Blessed  are  all  they  who  put  their  trust 
in  Him ! 

Kow  are  we  not  better  prepared  by  just  looking  at  these 
few  illustrations — which  could  be  repeated  by  the  thousand — 
to  understand  St.  Paul  when  he  says,  ''  Work  out  your  own 
salvation,  with  fear  and  trembling,  for  it  is  God  who  worketJi 
in  you,  both  to  will  and  to  work  f " 

Spirit  working  in  and  upon  spirit,  unseen — as  in  the  above 
illustrations, — but  differing  in  this  particular,  that  here 
there  is  a  similarity,  or  identity,  of  personal  agencies,  not  in 
their  purity,  but  in  the  character  of  spirit  as  agency — as  the 


100         '  THE  CREATOR  IN  ALL  THINGS. 

same  word  [evepyeiv)  is  used  (in  the  last  clause)  for  both  the 
Divine  and  the  human  working. 

We  must  not  fail  to  notice  that  in  this,  as  in  all  co-operation, 
the  Spirit  begins,  originates,  the  movement,  whatever  it  is, 
and  without  this  precedent,  leading  act  of  the  Spirit,  in  and 
upon  the  human  spirit,  nothing  that  is  right,  and  pure,  and 
good,  is  accomplished. 

These  are  the  facts.  The  endowment,  beginning  at  a 
blank,  must  be  taught  and  educated,  and  in  all  things  be  led 
into,  and  be  shown,  the  truth  ;  and  just  as  in  the  outward 
form  of  truth  presented  to  the  eye  and  ear  in  the  cosmos,  the 
truth  must  pre-exist  there,  and  be  so  presented  first,  in  form, 
by  the  unseen  Creator,  before  it  can  enter  and  come  into  the 
possession  of  the  endowment  (and  never  would  be  seen  or 
known,  or  even  imagined,  unless  so  presented),  precisely  so 
in  spiritual  things — as  there  has  got  to  be,  here  also,  a  blank 
beginning — the  spiritual  truth  must  first  be  presented  by  the 
unseen  Creator,  in  the  revealed  word  form,  and  in  a  personal 
teaching,  to  the  faculties  which  He  has  created  and  fitted  for 
its  reception,  and  until  so  presented  and  received,  all  that 
range  of  spiritual  realities  will  be  unseen,  and  unknown,  and 
inconceivable. 

This  is  a  part  of  the  present,  constant  work  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  among  the  people  of  God,  working  within  them  both 
to  will  and  to  work,  of  His  good  pleasure,  and  in  this,  as  in 
the  cosmos,  the  Divine  precedes  and  quickens  the  human 
activity  in  the  reception  and  interpretation  of  the  truth 
presented. 

In  this  work,  there  is  an  unspeakable  delicacy  and  privacy 
secured  (in  the  fact  that  one  party  is  unseen  by  the  other), 
which  could  not  have  been  secured  in  any  other  way.  The 
authoritative  power  of  personal  presence  is  not  there  to 
compel  obedience,  but  the  gentle  and  loving  influence  is 
there  to  attract  and  win  obedience.  Furthermore,  it  gives 
the  opportunity,  not  only  for  the  unseen  coming  of  the 
Spirit,  but  for  working  with  the  created  spirit,  in  ways  and 
methods  wholly  unknown  and  unrecognized  by  it, — for  the 


CO-OrERATION.  101 

arrangement  is  that  of  a  screen  to  one  pai'ty,  but  not  to  the 
other.  We  see  how  admirably  adapted  is  this  for  all  those 
restorative,  and  cleansing,  and  sanctifying  agencies  which 
must  be  applied  to  give  the  lapsed  will  its  strength,  and 
purity,  and  liberty.  It  is  difficult  to  imagine  how  these 
agencies  could  be  brought  to  bear,  or  to  be  effective,  in  the 
immediate  presence  of  God,  without  destroying  the  freedom 
of  the  will,  whereas,  the  free  acceptance  of  its  own  liberty, 
by  its  own  act,  is  what  is  desired,  and  what  is  secured  by  the 
time  arrangement,  in  its  practical  acceptance  of  Gospel 
truth. 

We  think  the  fact  already  referred  to,  that  the  same  Greek 
participle  and  verb  are  used  to  denote  the  purely  spiritual 
activity — for  such  it  is— of  both  the  Divine  and  the  human 
working,  is  of  very  great  significance,  especially  in  connection 
with  this — that  this  working  of  the  Divine  upon  the  human, 
is,  for  the  most  part,  unrecognized  and  unknown. 

The  argument  is  this — that  the  very  fact  that  it  is  received 
unconsciously,  is  a  most  remarkable  proof  of  the  identity,  in 
elemental  constituents,  between  the  Creating  and  the  created 
spirits. 

Tlie  likeness  as  spirit  is  so  great,  rather  so  complete,  and 
entire,  that  the  action  of  the  one  upon  the  other  is  felt,  not  as 
coming  from  another,  and  not  as  an  added  power,  but  only  as 
an  enlargement  of  its  ovn  power,  an  exixmsion  of  its  own 
endowment,  and  an  uplift  of  its  oim  emotional  capacity. 
Spiritual  haptism  gives  the  same  fncts,  and  no  more. 

This  action  of  the  Spirit,  therefore,  does  n  it  create,  or  give 
any  new  faculty  or  power,  but  acts  wholly  in  quickening  the 
powers,  as  fouiid,  and  strictly  according  to  their  own  struc- 
tural laws.  When  we  use  a  lens  to  make  the  minute  things 
visible,  and  the  distant  things  near,  we  do  not  change  the 
organ  of  vision,  or  any  optical  law,  but  reach  our  object  by 
acting  with  and  in  the  law,  exclusively.  This  is  a  fair 
illustration  of  one  of  the  methods  by  Avhich  the  Spirit  of  God 
gives  newness,  and  clearness,  and  a  pure  outline  to  forms  of 
truth,  both  in  the  Word  and  in  the  outward  and  visible  forms 
in  the  cosmos. 


102  THE   CHEATOn   IX    ALL    THINGS. 

We  make  this  suggestion  as  partially  revealing  what  to 
some  minds  is  a  great  mystery,  to  wit,  the  action  of  the 
Divine  upon  the  human  spirit. 

The  area  and  limit  of  this  action,  will  be  simply  what 
reason  may  demand.    {HicJcoJc.) 

We  have  now  said  sufficient  to  show  that  the  co-operation 
with  the  unseen  Creator,  which  begins  with  the  earliest 
activity  in  outward  and  formal  things,  prepares  the  way, 
when  recognized  rationally  and  joyfully,  for  a  full  acquaint- 
ance with  Him,  and  a  glad  communion  in  the  things  that  are 
spiritual  and  eternal. 

That  is  to  say — God's  plan  of  rational  being,  as  we  have 
found  it,  is  not  defective  in  any  particular,  but  is,  in  every 
conceivable  manner,  effective  to  carry  out  His  purposes, 
and  secure  the  eternal  welfare  of  His  people. 

This  way  of  living  and  becoming,  though  slow  and  gradual 
at  the  start,  is  not  a  poor  way,  but  the  best  w^ay ;  but  it  must 
be  seen  to  be  so,  to  work  out  the  best  results, — and  for  this 
there  must  be  a  teaching,  from  the  beginning,  other  than 
that  of  the  unseen  Spirit,  and  by  methods,  not  more  direct, 
but  moi'e  practically  necessary,  and  with  visible  form  and 
authority.  In  these  it  is  to  come  up  into  its  first  activities. 
This  brings  us  to  the  threshold  of  life,  to  wit : 
III.  The  family  relation.  As  the  relation  of  every  rational 
being  to  its  Creator,  is  that  of  a  child  to  its  Father,  so  it 
pleased  Him  to  include  the  family  relation  in  the  plan  of  our 
being,  and  to  make  it  subservient  to  many  very  important 
ends. 

1.  It  was  necessary  that  an  endowment  which  was  to  begin 
at  a  blank,  should  have  some  intelligent  rational  agency  to 
receive  it  and  care  for  it,  constantly  and  patiently,  until  it 
<;ould  care  for  itself,  and  this  could  only  be  expected  from 
some  one  of  its  own  order.  So  we  have  the  mother  and  the 
father,  and  brothers  and  sisters,  to  look  and  care  for  the 
incoming  party. 

2.  It  was  seen  to  be  necessary,  in  forming  and  cultivating 
a.  home  feeling,  and  so  give,  in  its  way,  a  longing  for  our  own 


THE   FAMILY   RELATION.  103 

proper  home,  with  our  Father  in  heaven — inasmuch  as  heaven 
is  distinctly  a  household  and  a  home  for  the  people  of  God. 

3.  It  was  necessary  to  provide  and  secure,  that  as  the 
endowment  is  to  begin  at  the  lowest  level  of  activity,  so 
the  body,  in  which  it  is  to  be  placed,  shall  begin  in  like 
manner,  and  each  come  up  together  in  a  symmetrical  and 
proportioned  increase  of  the  powers  given  in  them. 

4.  It  was  necessary  to  introduce  at  once,  and  make  con- 
stant, the  social  eement  in  the  plan  of  being.  It  was  needed 
to  make  possible  and  promote  a  deep  reciprocal  sympathy, 
and  fellowship,  and  love,  and  point  unmistakably  to  a  like 
union,  among  all  the  blood  kindred  in  our  Father's  house. 
It  was  needed  to  prove,  beyond  all  question,  that  each  one, 
though  personal,  and  distinctly  individual,  and  separate 
from  all  others — is  yet  connected  with  all  others,  in  the  like- 
ness of  the  make-up  of  his  own  being,  and  that  all  are  chil- 
dren of  one  Father.  It  is  a  demonstration  that  there  are  no 
lonesome  hours,  and  no  lonesome  people,  in  the  kingdom  of 
heaven. 

5.  It  was  needed  to  invite  and  develop  in  the  unused 
endowment,  the  feeling  of  trust,  and  without  this,  the 
advance  and  increase  in  the  acquisition  of  knowledge,  or 
even  in  the  use  of  the  endow  ment,  would  be,  not  merely  very 
slow  and  laggard,  but  entirely  blocked,  as  to  any  practical 
movement.  The  state  would  be  so  undesirable  that  it  would 
be  better  not  to  be  born  into  it — and  no  one  in  it  would  desire 
to  stay. 

Accordingly  we  find  that  the  very  ground  of  all  our  mental 
activities  is  based  upon  a  belief  in  the  truth  of  things — m  the 
reality  of  things — in  the  validity  and  genuineness  of  things — 
seen,  heard,  and  other i.cise  represented;  and  if  so  of  things 
which  are  impersonal,  still  more  positive  and  emphatic  is  the 
belief  in  that  which  is  personal, — that  which  comes  from  a 
spiritual  being  of  its  own  order,  with  which  it  recognizes 
instantly,  a  unity  and  fellowship  of  rational  being. 

This  introduces  us,  properly,  to  the  most  important  doc- 
trine we  have  before  us, — to  wit : 


104  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

IV.  (Jliristian  Faith.  It  is  conditional  for  all  mental  ac- 
tivity, that  there  shall  be  an  occasion  or  cause  for  the  move- 
ment. The  cause  being  given,  faith  springs  forth,  inborn 
and  structural,  in  all  the  activities  of  the  endowment. 

Doubt  is  an  after-thought,  not  a  first  thought. 

That  faith  is  not  alien,  or  strange,  or  difficult,  is  Seen  in 
this,  that  a  child  will  believe  implicitly  the  most  improbable 
statements,  if  made  by  some  one  whom  it  trusts. 

This  shows  the  readiness  to  believe,  without  any  other 
proof  than  the  statement,  and  this  could  only  have  its  source 
in  a  created  tendency  towards  implicit  trust,  and  is  therefore 
inherent. 

The  opposite  of  this  would  suppose  the  inconceivable 
absurdity,  that  the  Creator  should  create  a  system  of  fixed 
laws,  and  adapt  them  to  the  interpreting  powers  of  rational 
beings,  but  should  so  disarrange  them  that  the  powers  should 
fail  to  interpret,  and  the  laws  and  facts  should  fail  to  be  true 
and  valid. 

Satan  did  not  create  the  world. 

Believing,  therefore,  in  the  truth  of  things,  this  inherent 
property  of  spiritual  being  secures  to  the  endowment  trust 
in  a  proper  person,  and  gives  this  fundamental  element  of 
faith.  But  the  higher  element  that  is  to  be  looked  for  in  the 
insight  or  intuition,  belongs  to  the  endowment  as  spirit,  in 
its  highest  rational  capacity.  This  is  the  evidence  of  things 
unseen. 

Of  course  it  is  very  obvious  that  except  for  this  primary 
separation  from  the  Creator,  in  the  first  term  of  life,  there 
would  be  no  call  for  this  kind  of  intuition,  and  no  call  for  a 
revelation,  for  all  transactions  would  have  been  in  the  light 
of  His  presence.  But  spirit  is  spirit,  and  has  its  origin  and 
its  home  in  that  presence,  and  He  who  created  the  spiritual 
endowment,  gives  it  the  evidence  of  His  birthright,  and 
equips  it  with  faculties  that  can  grasp  and  perceive  spirit- 
ually, the  things  unseen. 

This,  however,  from  the  very  fact  of  being  one  of  the 
highest  factors  in  the  endowment,  is  closely  allied  to  the 


rniVACY   OF   OUIl  COMMUXICATIO?!.  106 

reason,  if  it  be  not  ideutical  with  it — iiud  so  the  child,  when 
it  grows  up  in  the  Christian  faith,  will  seek  for  the  grounds 
of  its  faith,  and  will  not  be  satisfied  until  it  has  found  ti 
rational  basis  for  its  belief.  For  faith  is  not  believing 
without  cause,  but  rational  insight.  The  peace  and  joy  in 
believing,  before  it  can  be  true  peace  and  permanent  joy, 
must  have  back  of  it,  and  precedent  thereto — seeing  that  the 
emotional  is  secondary  always — a  true  repentance  and  a 
rational  faith. 

But  faith,  besides  being  a  trust  and  an  insight,  is  a  reception. 
It  opens  the  door,  swings  wide  the  gate,  builds  a  fire  for  th  ■ 
coming  guest,  places  a  chair  at  the  table,  expects  company 
and  gets  it. 

Now  there  is  a  solid  ground-work  for  all  this  faith,  in  the 
very  structure  of  our  being  ;  but  all  our  experience  is  a  find- 
ing, and  faith  cannot  become  Christian  faith,  either  in  the 
person  or  in  the  teachings  of  Christ,  until  Christ  and  His 
teachings  are  brought  before  the  mind  and  the  heart, — and 
the  will  niJves  the  whole  endowment  into  their  acceptance. 
In  this  the  l^elp  and  agency  of  the  Spirit  is  given,  inviting, 
but  not  compelling.    The  will  must  be  free. 

We  may  rece.ve  this  help  at  the  place  of  prayer  and 
worship,  in  tlie  congregation,  but  we  need,  also,  something 
more  cons  ant  and  continually  at  hand,  and  we  now  proceed 
to  notice  the  remarkable  provision  for  that  special  purpose. 

V.  The  jrrivacy  of  our  co7nmunicatiomoith  the  Creator.  In 
the  plan  of  our  being,  the  Creator  has  so  arranged  and  pro- 
vided our  communication  with  Him,  that  every  one  can  come 
before  Him  separately  and  alone,  so  that  all  that  passes 
between  the  soul  and  its  Creator  shall  be  strictly  private  and 
personal,  and  wholly  unknown  to  any  other  person  in  the 
Universe.  The  incomparable  advantage  of  this  is  some- 
thing wonderful,  and  it  is  only  because  of  its  universal 
recognition  and  practice  among  those  who  have  accepted  the 
Gospel  truth,  that  the  untold  benefits  of  this  part  of  the  plan 
are  not  seen  and  noticed  in  ttieir  true  bearings.  We  seldom 
think  cf  what  it  is  to  be  privileged  to  come  before  the  Creator 


106  THE   CKEATOK   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

of  the  Universe  with  our  own  individual,  private  matters,  and 
that  we  may  do  this  in  all  places,  times  and  circumstances, 
perfectly  certain  that  He  is  willing  that  we  should  come  and 
state  our  case,  and  make  our  requests,  and  offer  up  our 
thanks,  and  still  further,  that  the  privacy  of  the  communion 
Kill  he  sacred  forever. 

The  more  we  think  of  it,  the  more  marvelous,  and  beauti- 
ful, and  inexpressibly  considerate  of  our  state  it  will  appear ; 
and,  in  fact,  nothing  but  the  relation  of  the  Father  to  the 
child,  can  interpret  it.  "  It  is  He  that  hath  made  us,  and 
not  we  ourselves— we  are  His  people  and  the  sheep  of  His 
pasture." 

That,  however,  which  we  now  desire  to  point  out,  is  the 
impossibility  of  securing  this  private  cojamunion  with  our 
Pather  in  any  other  than  in  just  this  manner. 

It  was  necessary  that  the  plan  of  our  being  should  place  us 
in  that  state  in  which  the  Creator  would  be  to  us  invisible  and 
yet  present. 

As  Spirit  with  spirit— the  Father  with  the  child,— there  is 
the  consciousness  of  His  presence,  when  His  presence  is 
desired,  and  there  is  the  consciousness  that  it  is  for  himself, 
not  another — a  private,  secret,  individual  transaction. 

We  can  hardly  imagine  this  in  His  own  dwelling  place  in 
the  heavens.  It  would  seem  impossible  there.  But  now, 
without  this  privilege,  life,  to  thousands  and  thousands  of 
thousands,  would  be  insupportable. 

The  result  of  this  wonderful  arrangement  makes  it  possible 
for  every  soul — in  a  land  where  the  Gospel  is  known — to  be 
privately  instructed  and  educated,  by  the  One  who  created  it., 
and  gave  it  its  endowment,  and  its  rational  and  receptive 
:powers  for  that  purpose. 

Hosts  without  number  have  passed  through  the  gates, 
^who  have  never  known  or  needed  any  other  instruction,  and 
are  all  the  happier  now  that  they  were  left  alone  with  God. 

VI.  Christian  Joy  and  Peace.  The  preparation  for  Christian 
joy  begins  at  the  very  lowest  base  of  the  mental  structure, 
and  stands  ready  everywhere  for  great  and  wonderful  trans- 


CHIIISTIAN   JOV   AXD   TKACK.  1('7 

actions.  It  is  the  most  roomy  depart meht  in  the  endow- 
meut. 

It  may  be  conceived  of  spiritual,  rational  being — self- 
conscious  rationality,  whether  human  or  angelic — 

First,  tluit  any  activity  put  forth  by  it,  is,  in  and  of  itself, 
pleasurable,  and — unless  disordered — will  so  continue.  That 
God  so  creates  it  simply  because  it  is  His  pleasure  so  to 
create  sentient  and  rational  life — but  that  also  in  the  fact  of 
being  His  pleasure  so  to  create  it,  it  is  also  reciprocally 
active  upon  Himself.  We  may  even  say  that  as  our  life  is 
hid  with  Christ  in  God,  so  in  an  important  sense  is  His  life 
hid  with  Christ,  in  His  people. 

Secondly,  this  element  of  joy, —  or  in  its  lowest  form, 
pleasurable  satisfaction — may  be  needed  to  secure  a  continued 
activity. 

Third,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  readiness  to  act  (emotionally), 
and  the  potency,  are  both  so  great,  and  instant,  and  uni- 
versal, and  the  things  to  be  (emotionally)  received  so  varied 
in  kind  and  number,  and  so  bewildering  in  their  attractions, 
we  find  this  v»'hole  department  has  been  put  under  special 
restrictive  laws,  differing  from  the  structural  laws  of  all 
other  mental  activities.  To  wit, — in  order  to  prevent  the 
unconditioned  and  unlimited  creation  of  joy,  it  is  made,  as 
to  the  human  agency  and  co-operation,  always  and  exclu- 
sively secondary  and  subject  to  a  precedent,  with  which  it  is 
interlocked.  It  is  always  a  resultant  —  never,  primarily,  a 
cause,  or  self-active  faculty. 

Pure  joy,  whether  in  the  strict  sense  Christian  joy  or  not, 
must  always  have  Us  precedent  rational  cause. 

It  comes,  then,  as  an  exact  equivalent  for  the  cause,  and  the 
cause  is  expressed  in  the  emotion.  The  character,  the  quan- 
tity and  the  quality  of  it  are  all  there. 

The  "joy  and  peace  in  believing"  come  direct  from  the 
rational  insight  into  the  character  of  the  One  who  gave  the 
promise  which  has  been  believed  and  acted  on,  and  so  thers 
has  been  a  rational  precedent  in  the  believing,  and  a  rational, 
interlocked  resultant  in  the  joy  and  peace  that  follow. 


108  THE   CREATOR  IN   ALL   THINGS. 

The  joy  that  comes  from  alcoholic  stipaulants,  reaches  the 
spirit  through  the  animal  organism,  and  it  is  the  same 
spiritual  personality  that  is  reached  by  the  spiritual  acts  of 
the  Christian,  which  bring  the  purer  spiritual  joy  and  peace ; 
but  it  is  not  a  rational  cause,  and  therefore  the  quality  of 
the  emotion  is  low,  and  chiefly  of  the  animal  sort.  It  is  just 
as  much  a  proof  of  the  expansive  nature  and  power  of  emo- 
tional spiritual  being,  as  any  high  religious  experience,  but 
it  is  on  a  much  lower  line.  Paul  seems  to  have  meant  this, 
when  he  said,  "Be  not  drunk  with  wine,  but  be  filled  with 
the  Spirit,"— for  the  Spirit  can  invigorate  all  the  powers,  to 
their  full  capacity. 

The  susceptibility  to  impressions.,  in  our  study  of  the  mental 
structure,  we  found  to  be  universal — i.e.,  as  coming  from 
both  personal  and  impersonal,  rational  and  non-rational 
causes,  spirit  and  force.  This  susceptibility  is  open  to  every- 
thing which  can  act  upon  the  body,  as  well  as  the  soul. 
Healthful  and  poisonous  influences  have  each  the  same  access 
to  the  spirit,  whether  direct,  or  through  the  body,— and  this 
susceptibility  is  so  delicate  and  certain  that  we  often  receive 
impressions  from  causes  wholly  unknovi'n, — more  subtle  than 
the  electric,  and  wholly  unaccountable.  Pure  air  is  a  good 
exaltant  and  stimulant,  and  pure  worship  is  tonic  and  exhila- 
rating, and  eminently  healthy  to  both  body  and  soul. 

But  there  is  no  occasion  to  enlarge.  That  which  is  pleas- 
urable and  enjoyable,  in  the  mental  structure,  springs  up  so 
often,  as  to  declare  itself  the  original,  normal  aim  and  result 
of  all  its  rational  activities.  We  proceed,  therefore,  to 
another  great  field  in  the  emotional  department,  to  wit:  the 
capacity  for  pain,  and  all  the  varied  forms  of  human  suffering. 
This  we  will  now  examine  in  reference  to  its  place  and  pur- 
pose in  the  plan  of  being. 

y  II.  Sujfering.  Suffering  has  many  places  and  many  ofiices 
in  the  plan  of  our  being.    They  will  bear  careful  study. 

1.  Suffering  enters  as  a  consequence  of  sin — whether  con- 
sidered as  a  punishment,  or  a  necessary  connection,  from  its 
being  a  part  of  it.    In  either  case  it  is  not  a  separate  thing, 


SUFFERING.  109 

but  the  smne  thing,  further  advanced.  Not  something  new 
attached,  but  something  inherent  developing  itself  at  ita  ap- 
j)ointed  time. 

As  a  constant  development,  it  is  a  constant  check  to  viola- 
tion of  law.  Its  warning,  and  its  certain  appearance,  sooner 
or  later,  at  every  such  violation,  are  the  great  safeguards  of 
our  social  life. 

2.  The  question  may  arise, — If  sin  is  pardoned,  why,  in 
case  of  bodily  sins,  in  which  the  punishment  has  already 
begun,  should  it  continue  any  longer? — as  we  know  that 
quite  often  it  follows  through  life. 

The  answer  seems  to  be,  that  sins  against  health — against 
the  bodily  organization— are  matters  that  have  to  do  with 
physical  laws,  and  they  are  fixed.  They  cannot  be  changed 
by  the  simple  fact  that  a  man  repents  of  the  act,  the  conse- 
quences of  which  he  finds  so  terrible.  They  are  a  part  of  the 
order  of  creation,  and  we  should  have  chaos  again,  if  the 
order  sliould  be  given  up.  But  sin  is  always  a  personal  affair, 
and  that  which  is  personal  may  be  pardoned  without  dis- 
turbing the  general  order, — and  rather  in  furtherance  of  it, 
provided  there  is  some  adequate  provision  therefor.  This  is 
found  in  the  death  and  mediation  of  the  Son  of  God. 

3.  Through  Him  there  may  be  pardon,  reconciliation,  and 
peace  with  God,  but  the  sins  against  the  body,  having  taken 
place  in  a  permanent  order  of  fixed  laws,  must  run  their 
course.  There  is  an  intimate  and  profound  sympathy  between 
body  and  soul,  and  through  that  reciprocity,  great  and  won- 
derful endurance  may  come,  through  Christian  grace,  so  that 
the  Christian's  mental  peace  has  a  powerfully  controlling 
influence  in  disease;  but,  in  general,  separate  from  that, 
there  can  be  no  further  alleviation  of  suffering  than  what 
can  be  found  in  medical  science  and  laws  of  hygiene. 

All  this,  however,  is  iu  the  line  of  law — tied  up  with  cause 
and  effect — whereas  forgiveness  is  wholly  a  free,  spontaneouc, 
mental  and  spiritual  act,  done  "  without  money  and  without 
price," and  vnthout  equivalents, — a  gift,  and  not  an  exchange 
or  barter,  and  is  wholly  coufined  and  limited  to  its  own. 
realm  of  mind  and  soul. 


110  THE  CREATOR  IN   ALL  THIKGS. 

Another  reason  why  the  physical  laws  cannot  be  interfered 
with,  in  the  same  positive  manner, — except  as  the  Creator, 
for  His  own  purposes,  or  in  answer  to  the  prayer  of  faith, 
may,  in  special  cases,  see  fit  so  to  do, — is  this— that  it  is  of 
the  utmost  importance  that  there  should  be,  here  in  the 
world,  a  constant  wityiess,  an  ever-present  testimony,  to  the 
fact  that  the  Creator  ^junis/ifs  all  transgression. 

This  testimony  must  be  quick,  sharp,  positive,  merciless, 
and  sometimes  very  terrible,  in  its  inflictions,— or  it  will  fail 
of  its  purpose.  It  must  represent  justice,  not  mercy.  It  must 
call  for  equivalents,  as  far  as  they  can  be  found,  and  so  it  has 
its  range  among  the  fixed  permanent  forces  of  physical  law. 

4.  With  the  Christian,  however,  all  things  are  made  to 
work  together  for  good,  and  the  bodily  suffering  may  often 
be  permitted,  for  the  purpose  of  doing  a  work  in  the  human 
soul  which  could  not  be  accomplished  by  any  other  means. 

5.  Suffering  is  also  one  of  God's  positive  appointments, — 
"  for  unto  this  were  ye  called," — bringing  the  Christian  into 
closer  fellowship  with  the  sufferings  of  Christ,  and  so  effect- 
ing a  spiritual  union  with  Him,  of  a  kind  not  attainable  in 
or  through  any  memorial,  or  any  act  of  worship.  In  the 
world  ye  shall  have  tribulation,  but  be  of  good  cheer.  I  have 
overcome  the  world. 

6.  This  is,  in  no  sense  and  in  no  degree,  expiatory. 
Everything  of  this  kind,  every  teaching  or  doctrine  pointing 

in  that  direction,  is  ruled  out  absolutely  and  forever,  by  the 
simple  fact  that  the  atonement  effected  by  the  Great  High 
Priest,  by  the  offering  of  Hirhself — in  that  He  bore  our  sins 
in  His  own  body  on  the  tree — was  complete,  full,  perfect, — 
to  which  nothing  can  be  added.  Human  suffering  for  others 
may  be  a  means — like  prayer,  or  self-denial,  or  work  in  thei;: 
behalf — which  may  bring  a  blessing,  and  lead  to  their  welfare 
and  salvation, — ^but  it  cannot  be  an  atonement  for  sin. 

"Who,  Himself,  bore  our  sins,  in  His  own  body  on  the 
tree,  that  we,  having  died  to  sins,  should  live  to  righteous- 
ness."    {Alford.) 

The  literal  reading  is— "Who,  Himself,  bore"  (lifted  up) 


SUFFERING.  Ill 

"  our  sins  in  His  own  body,  on  the  tree,  that  we,  being  sepa- 
rated from  the  sins,  might  live  unto  righteousness." 

Now  this  separation  from  sins  that  have  been  pardoned  is 
complete,  and  does  not  need  any  further  atonement  from  any 
source  whatever.  Tfie  sins  are  gone — they  are  not  to  be 
found— ihey  are  as  far  away  as  the  east  is  from  the  west ! 
There  is  no  room  for  anything  stipplementary  here,  for  the 
transaction  is  already  a  finished  work. 

7.  A  peculiarity  of  suffering,  manifesting  itself  in  earnest 
prayer,  in  reference  to  some  near  trial,  not  yet  seen  as  to  tvhat 
it  is  to  be,  and  often  f')r  others— comes  latest,  and  in  the 
highest  ranges  of  Christian  experience.  It  always  precedes 
and  prepares  the  way  for  the  trial  soitn  to  be  met — a  Geth- 
semane  before  the  Cross — giving  full  strength  beforehand, 
and  adequate  self-command  and  peace  in  the  crisis  of  the 
trial.  The  victory  is  won  before  the  hour  is  reached,  and  we 
are  "more  than  conquerors  through  Him  that  loved  us." 

8.  To  the  Christian,  there  is  one  other  phase — a  last,  and 
tinished,  and  permanent  result — nf  all  that  he  has  suffered 
patiently,  for  righteousness''  sake,  but  the  revelation  of  it  is 
reserved  for  the  life  to  come,  to  wit :  a  fdloivship  of  glory 
with  Christ,  and  with  all  the  great  host,  who  have  been 
redeemed  and  cleansed  by  the  blood  of  the  Lamb. 

The  glory  which  is  theirs  in  that  kingdom,  is  not,  we  think, 
something,  there  first  received  (Eom.  viii.  17, 18 ;  1  Pet.  v.  1), 
but  there^r^t  revealed,  in  the  clear  light  of  eternity,  and  with 
all  the  facts  which  have  had  their  share  in  its  making.  It 
has  been  forming,  all  along  through  the  pilgrimage,  and  has 
been  traveling  with  them,  unseen  by  the  world  and  unknown 
to  themselves,  and  daily  increasing  amid  the  trials,  the  suf- 
ferings, the  perplexities,  and  tribulations  in  which  it  has  had 
its  origin,  and  to  which  it  has  now  said,  farewell  forever. 

"And  he  said  unto  me,  These  are  they  who  come  out  of  the 
great  tribulation,  and  have  washed  their  robes  and  made 
them  white  in  the  blood  of  the  Lamb.  They  shall  hunger  no 
more,  neither  thirst  any  more.  The  Lamb  which  is  in  the 
midst  of  the  throne  shall  lead  them  unto  living  fountains 


112  THE   CREATOR   IN    ALL   THINGS. 

o£  waters,  and  God  shall  wipe  awaj^  all  tears  from  their 
eyes.'" 

VIII.  Conflict.  This  supposes  a  mental  structure  which 
is  endowed  with  power  to  put  forth  varied  activities  in  the 
same  moment  of  time,  to  accept  and  respond — to  meet  and 
repel — to  follow,  or  resist,  immediate  desire — to  contend 
manfully,  and  patiently,  and  persistently,  in  the  midst  of 
powerfully  conflicting  motives,  in  behalf  of  its  own  sense  of 
right,  or  to  yield. 

The  call  for  the  power  is  not  after,  but  in,  the  moment  of 
the  temptation,  or  the  need,  whatever  it  may  be. 

An  endowment,  therefore,  which  had  but  one  activity 
for  the  same  moment,  would  be  utterly  inadequate;  and, 
although  under  the  personal  will  the  mind  acts  always  as  a 
unit,  it  has  its  different  powers  entirely  distinct,  and  many 
of  them. 

How  many  of  these  separate,  inter-connected  powers  can 
be  consciously  put  forth  in  the  same  instant,  or  in  the  same 
successive  instants  of  time,  will  depend  first,  of  course,  on 
the  actual  number  originally  placed  in  the  endowment, 
which  has  its  exact  limits  in  the  structural  plan  (and  will  be 
noticed  briefly  in  the  article  on  "Experience"')— next  to 
which  it  will  depend  upon  the  surroundings — the  incoming 
potencies,  of  whatever  kind,  with  which  it  can  have  sym- 
pathy,—and  lastly,  it  will  depend  very  largely  on  the  previous 
training  and  practice  of  the  powers  themselves. 

The  possibilities,  in  this  respect,  in  reference  to  what  may 
be  the  enlargement  of  the  personal  activity  in  another  world, 
are  very  suggestive. 

It  is  not  at  all  difficult  to  conceive  that  with  an  endowment 
of  so  many  different  self-acting  powers,  and  so  many  ways  hi 
which  it  may  be  also  a  constant  recipient,  separate  from  its 
own  active  seeking,  the  life  there,  especially  in  this  latter 
particular,  may  be  consciously  and  continuously  non-inter- 
mittent. 

We  understand,  of  course,  that  the  life  itself  does  not  and 
cannot  intermit,  either  here  or  there — but  here  the  faculties — 


MTiAisrs.  118 

the  powers — the  manifestations  of  the  life — halt,  subside, 
retire,  every  few  hours,  and  seek  utter  oblivion.  Not  one,  but 
all,  unite  in  this,  or  if  any  one  keeps  busy,  then  others  are 
likely  to  join  in,  and  a  fruitless  commotion  is  kept  up,  show- 
ing that  all  are  bound  together  in  one  bundle. 

Now,  in  this  capacity  for  separate  but  united  action,  the 
mind  may  be  very  deeply  and  powerfully  moved,  by  emotions 
entirely  diverse  and  opposed  to  each  other,  and  yet  be  without 
any  trace  of  tumult  or  conflict.  We  have  this  in  Paul's  sor. 
rotcing^  yet  ahcays  rejoicing.  There  has  been  tumult  and 
conflict,  but  the  victory  has  been  won. 

"We  are  to  suppose  here,  in  sorrowing  yet  always  rejoicinpf, 
two  emotional  states,  side  by  side,  parallel  with  each  other, 
and  not  counteracting,  or  canceling,  or  touching  each  other, 
except  that  they  may  be  partially  blended  in  one,  but  in  no 
case  is  there  any  antagonism  between  them,  but  on  the  other 
other  hand,  a  deep  peace,  flowing  like  a  river. 

This  experience  has  its  source  only  in  a  fellowship  with 
Christ's  sufferings. 

It  is  the  Christ-life  here  in  the  body  of  our  humiliation, 
and  if  any  portion  of  this  sorrowing  (now  a  component  part) 
is  carried  over  in  the  spiritual  body,  and  made  an  element  of 
the  eternal  life,  it  can  be  so  only  in  the  joyful  association 
with  His  sufferings,  and  everywhere  the  sorrow  will  be 
paralleled  with  joy. 

Perhaps  the  joy  will  need  the  sorrow  as  its  base,  in  some 
form  of  memory,  or  both  combine  together  to  form  some  new 
element  of  exceeding  glory,  not  yet  revealed. 

This  will  be  noticed  again,  in  the  closing  article,  "  The 
Christian's  Reward." 

IX.  Means.  Ail  things  are  Divinely  appointed  means  for 
Divinely  appointed  ends.  It  is  because  the  appointment  is 
Divine  that  the  connection  is  certain,  and  so  the  knowledge 
of  the  means  is  of  infinite  moment,  in  reference  to  any 
proposed  end. 

The  certainty,  everywhere,  is  not  that  the  means  is  of 
man's  creation,  or  of  man's  appointment,  or  of  man's  com- 


114  THE   CREATOR   IX   ALT.   THINGS. 

maul,  but  that  it  is  always  God's  creation,  and  God's 
appointment,  and  God's  command.  The  efficiency  every- 
where is  Divine — the  Creator's,  not  man's. 

To  suppose  that  any  end  can  be  reached  without  its  appro- 
priate means,  is  absurd. 

To  suppose  that  the  end  will  not  be  reached  by  its  appro- 
priate means,  is  equally  absurd. 

God  cannot  absent  Himself  from  His  own  outstanding 
laws,  whether  in  that  which  is  personal  or  impersonal,  nor 
fail  to  execute  them. 

There  can  be  no  failure  and  no  deficiency  anywhere  in  His 
operations. 

The  cosmos,  as  a  whole,  and  as  a  combination  of  in- 
numerable and  varied  forces,  is  a  permanent  system  of 
means,  for  the  benefit  of  all  the  generations  that  come  and 
go,  and  in  it  a  great  variety  of  means  are  often  working  to 
the  same  end. 

In  the  mental  construction,  the  system  of  means  is  equally 
complete,  and  complex  and  varied,  and  as  many  things  in 
the  physical  creation  are  hidden,  and  only  leveal  themselves 
after  long  searching  and  patient  investigation,  so  in  mind 
and  in  spiritual  things,  there  must  be  study,  examination, 
and  investigation,  and  a  trial  in  a  personal  experience,  of  the 
adequacy  and  fitness  of  any  means  used,  and  so  ascertain 
whether  or  not,  in  its  practical  working,  it  proves  its  Divine 
appointment. 

"  By  their  fruits  ye  shall  know  them,"  is  equally  applicable 
to  all  agencies,  instrumentalities,  forms  and  methods  of 
worship,  and  churches. 

But  in  the  Word  of  God  there  is  also  a  special  revelation 
of  all  the  means  that  are  necessary  to  prepare  us  for  that 
which  is  to  come.  The  directions  are  simple,  rational,  full, 
and  extend  to  every  possible  phase  of  a  Christian  experience. 

The  New  Testament  writers,  however,  and  the  words  of 
Christ,  also,  go  direct  to  the  point.  They  do  not  say  "use 
the  means" — (the  word,  as  we  use  it,  is  not  in  the  New 
Testament), but  they  say  "ask,"  "seek,"  "  knock,"  "  believe," 


PRAYER   AND   AVORSniP.  115 

"watch,"  "  pray,"  "rejoice,"  "repent"  ("take  a  new  mind  "f), 
"lay  hold  on  eternal  life,"  "confess  your  faults  one  to 
another,"  "  deny  thyself,"  "take  up  thy  cross,"  "  follow  me," 
"  abide  in  me,"  "  love  your  enemies,"  "pray  for  them  which 
despitefully  use  you,"  etc. — implying,  also,  without  the 
slightest  question,  the  ability  to  do  the  things  that  are  com- 
manded, and  the  undoubted  certainty  of  the  results  which 
will  follow. 

These  results  are  also  plainly  pointed  out.  The  connection 
is  shown  at  once,  and  the  precept  becomes  plainly  means 
adapted  to  an  end. 

To  wit :  AsJc — and  ye  shall  receive;  seek — and  ye  shall  find ; 
watch  and  pray — lest  ye  enter  into  temptation. 

Watching,  praying,  believing,  working,  hoping,  taking  up 
the  cross,  denying  self,  repenting,  forgiving  each  other's 
trespasses,  bearing  one  another's  burdens,  rejoicing,  and  all 
else  that  is  commanded, — are  each,  though  interlocked,  a 
separate  means  Divinely  appointed,  each  with  a  Divine 
power  placed  in  it,  ready  and  efficient  to  work  out  the  end — 
which  is,  also,  not  only  Divinely  appointed  and  prepared  for 
it,  but  embodied  in  it.  It  had  it  all  along .  He  that  asketh, 
receiveth. 

In  this  sense,  also,  the  whole  life  here  in  the  body  is  a 
means  to  an  end,  and  in  this  arrangement  it  is  said  to  the 
Christian,  "All  things  are  yours." 

X.  Prayer  and  Worship.  The  basis  of  prayer  in  the  mental 
constr'jction  is  found  in  the  common  ground  of  spiritual 
being,  in  both  parties. 

It  might  be  pre-supposed  that  the  Creator,  in  the  very 
remarkable  method  of  placing  the  created  agent  in  a  world 
separated  from  His  immediate  presence  (the  advantage  of 
which,  in  securing  the  privacy  of  communion,  has  already 
been  pointed  out),  would  reserve  to  it,  and  to  Himself,  also^ 
some  intercommunication,  but  the  ground  of  spirit  common 
to  both,  secures  it  in  the  likeness  of  its  elements. 

Spirit  communicates  with  spirit  in  a  way  that  is  unknown 
to  us.    We,  ourselves,  use  symbols  of  some  kind,  and  can 

t  Ti-eadwell  Walden's  Metanoia. 


116  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

only  have  intercourse  with  each  other  through  the  symbolic 
forms  of  word,  tone,  look  and  gesture, — all  of  which  may  be 
printed,  also,  and  recorded, — but  all  are  felt  to  be  somewhat 
imperfect,  and  not  equal  to  the  Creator's  method  of  dealing 
with  us — direct,  as  Spirit  with  spirit.  This  method  is  un- 
known to  us,  but  so,  also,  to  a  large  extent,  is  the  method  we 
employ,  of  symbols,  and  which  He  also  employs  in  presenting 
us  His  thought,  as  there  expressed,  in  created  impersonal 
forms,  in  the  cosmos. 

The  special  form  of  intercourse  which  we  designate  prayer, 
has  its  basis  at  the  very  foundation  of  the  mental  structure- 
in  this,  that  as  a  created  personality,  with  powers  wholly 
derived,  and  therefore  constantly  dependent  upon  the  One 
who  creates  it,  it  will  also  be  dependent  upon  Him,  for  such 
surroundings  as  will  make  life  endurable— seeing  that  at  the 
beginning  it  will  have  nothing  in  hand  and  will  be  compelled 
to  be  a  recipient  for  a  long  time,  before  it  will  have  any  con- 
siderable acquisitions  of  its  own,  and  these,  also  of  no  possible 
use,  even  then,  unless  there  be  premises  somewhere,  suitable 
for  their  use,  and  with  room  for  exercise  and  enjoyment. 

That  such  a  person  should  not  pray  would  seem  very 
astonishing.  That  such  a  person — especially  in  a  state  like 
ours — should  j9ra^  without  ceasing  would  seem  more  natural, 
and  to  be  expected. 

From  the  very  freedom  that  is  granted  in  coming  before 
God,  it  is  not  strange  that  there  is  a  vast  deal  of  so-called 
prayer  that  is  not  prayer,  and  a  large  proportion  of  true 
prayer  that  is  not  effective,  lacking  some  essential  condition. 

1.  In  multitudes  of  instances  we  ask  God  to  do  that  which, 
in  the  nature  of  the  case,  He  cannot  do,  and  which,  in  the 
nature  of  the  case,  we  must  ourselves  do,  if  it  is  ever  to  be 
done. 

Are  such  prayers  answered  at  all?  Yes — provided  the 
Lord  has  some  way  of  moving  us  to  take  hold  of  the  matter. 
"  His  agency  is  not  to  annihilate  but  to  stimulate  the  human 
agency,"t  and  in  such  cases  He  may  open  a  way  for  us,  and 
give  us  the  will  to  do  the  work ;  but  as  this  may  be  in  a  very 
t  Olshausen. 


PRAYiai   AND   -SVOKSniP.  117 

roundabout  manuer,  we  lose  the  satisfaction,  in  many  in- 
stances, of  knowing  tiaat  the  prayer  was  received,  and  has 
really  been  answered.  We  miss  the  connections,  and  by  the 
time  it  is  accomplished,  something  else  is  in  hand,  and  we 
are  busy  with  that. 

2.  In  other  instances — and  they  are  numbered  in  thou- 
sands— He  does  not  find  us  willing  to  do  our  part  in  the 
matter,  and  then  the  prayer  is  worse  than  thrown  away. 
This  field  of  failure  is  immense,  and  the  travel  in  it  constant 
and  crowded. 

Now  when  we  come  to  the  act  of  prayer,  are  there  any 
outward  or  visible  helps  ? 

Absolutely  none.  They  are  an  intrusion— a  hindrance — a 
something  between  the  soul  and  God,  at  the  very  time  when 
vee  want  everything  that  stands  between  to  be  removed. 

If  you  are  talking  with  a  friend,  do  you  want  a  screen 
between  you  and  the  friend  you  are  talking  with  ? 

When  thou  prayest,  enter  into  thy  closet  and  ahut  the  door. 

All  objects  for  the  eye  and  the  ear,  and  the  touch — the  out- 
ward senses — ^must  be  avoided.  It  may  be  dark  in  the  closet. 
All  the  better  if  it  is.    Enter  there  and  shut  the  door. 

To  the  Christian,  the  first  large  advance  in  a  spiritual 
experience  is  in  the  discovery  that  his  highest  joy  and  deepest 
peace  are  found  in  being  alone  with  God. 

Social  and  public  worship  is  healthful  and  stimulating — 
a  very  pure  exaltant — but  (although  indispensably  necessai-y 
for  its  special  purposes)  it  is  on  a  lower  plane  of  spiritual  life 
and  experience. 

In  public  worship,  however,  the  outward  things  are  needed, 
because  the  act  of  worship  must  be  that  in  which  all  can  join 
and  participate,  and  we  can  have  no  way  of  communicating 
with  each  other  in  worship,  except  by  the  symbol  of  the 
spoken  word,  or  by  the  act  of  praise  or  prayer  in  singing,  i.  e., 
it  must  come  out  into  a  formal  manifestation.  Where  all 
are  to  act  together  it  must  be  on  a  common  ground,  and  this, 
everywhere  in  this  world  (however  varied  in  method  and 
substance),  is  in  symbolic  form. 


118  THE   CKEATOrw   IX   ALL   THINGS. 

For  the  same  reason,  in  the  memorial  service  which  Christ 
instituted,  He  took  common  articles  of  food,  which  could  be 
assimilated  and  incorporated  in  the  person  receiving  them, 
to  be  the  memorial  of  Himself,  and  a  continual  prophecy  of 
His  coming  again.  But  this  was  not  to  be  a  private,  but  a 
public  observance,  and  it  is  evident  that  He  intended  it  to 
be  eminently  a  social  act,  and  to  be  much  more  informal  and 
frequent  than  it  is  in  our  day. 

In  regard  to  prayer  (private,  individual  communion  with 
God),  as  a  matter  of  fact,  nearly  all  persons— and,  perhaps, 
all — in  any  great  trouble,  p.  ay  instantly,  and  very  earnestly, 
and  without  retjard  to  any  former  doubts  as  to  its  efficiency. 
It  is  the  quick  cry  of  the  child  to  the  Father. 

But  the  soul  can  pray  without  symbols,  and,  where  lan- 
guage fails,  better  without  them  than  with  them.  "  There 
are  many  things  between  God  and  the  soul  which  will  not  go 
into  words,  but  which  can  be  prayed  somehow,  notwith- 
standing."   {Canon  Liddon.) 

In  that  outer  region  where  the  word-form  fails,  sound- 
form,  in  the  harmonic  tone,  takes  the  thought  and  the 
emotion,  and  gives  it  a  much  larger,  but  still  imperfect, 
expression, — larger  because  indefinite,  and  more  suited  to 
the  emotion,  because  that  is  also  indefinite,  and  goes  out 
beyond  definition  and  exact  limit, —  but  still  imperfect, 
because  it  does  not  fully  express  all  the  capacities  of  the 
soul.  This  gives  sacred  music  a  place  in  worship  which 
nothing  else  can  reach,  and  a  work  which  nothing  else  can 
accomplish. 

"  Thou  Shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God. "  But  love  is  emotional. 
The  action  of  the  finite  out  towards  the  Infinite.  That  in- 
expressible longing  of  the  heart  which  the  Christian  often 
feels,  or  which  any  one  may  feel,  whether  Christian  or  not, 
is,  in  reality,  a  longing  for  God,  and  the  Christian  peace, 
which  passeth  all  understanding,  is  that  which  comes  in 
finding  Him. 

But  that  which  symbols — whether  word  or  tone — fail  in 
accomplishing,  can  be  done  direct,  by  Him  who  acts  with  or 


SPIUITUAL   BAPTISM.  11& 

without  symbols,  accordiii};  to  His  pleasure ;  and  this  brings 
us  to  another  topic,  to  wiL : 

XI.  Stjiriiuiil  Baplism.  This  is  a  direct  contact  of  soul 
with  soul,  and  therefore  fills  the  whole  spiritual  capacity. 
This  is  like  "  the  fullness  of  God.'''' 

The  ground  of  spiritual  baptism  is  in  ihe  family  relation- 
ship.   It  is  the  father's  embrace  and  the  mother's  kiss. 

It  is  a  joy  so  pure,  and  deep,  and  strong,  so  entirely  separate 
from  one's  self,  as  to  cause,  and  yet  so  blended  with  one's 
own  being  in  effect,  as  to  clearly  indicate  that  the  source  of 
it  can  be  no  other  than  the  presence  of  God,  made  so  far 
immediate  as  the  body  can  receive  and  not  die  in  the  recep- 
tion. Not  thcit  it  is  necessarily  recognized  as  such,  or  thought 
of  mentally,  at  the  time,  as  it  may,  for  the  moment,  over- 
power all  consciousness  except  that  of  itself. 

In  the  plan  of  being,  we  have  found  the  co-operation  of  the 
Divine  with  the  human  spirit,  and  a  constant  presence  of  the 
Spirit,  and  we  may  suppose  that  for  reasons  of  His  own,  and 
because  His  presence  is  always  unseen  and  not  obtrusive, 
He  may  give  to  His  people  who  desire  it  and  have  prepared 
themselves  for  it,  once  for  all,  this  special  and  unusual  token 
of  His  presence,  by  some  extraordinary  manifestation.  But 
when  this  is  done,  it  will  till  up  the  soul  to  its  full  capacity, 
and  so,  with  the  inexpressible  delight,  there  may  be,  soon, 
the  emotional  outburst  of  sobs  and  tears,  and  strong  crying, 
as  it  will  be  altogether  beyond  the  natural  power  of  the  body 
to  quietly  receive  it. 

It  may  be  sudden  in  its  coming — instantaneous — but  with- 
out shock— and  may  take  one  entirely  away  from  any  time 
connections  or  time  experience.  Any  one  who  has  so  received 
it  will  never  forget  it.  It  is  wholly  beyond  the  ordinary 
Chrisiiau  joy  and  peace,  in  the  consciousness  of  power  sepa- 
rate from  them,  but  one  with  them  in  this— that  it  is  not 
strange  or  unnatural,  or  felt  as  something  in  any  degree 
alien  or  foreign.  I  imagine  that  that  in  it  which  it  is  so 
•difficult  to  define,  is  its  eternal  element, — i.  e.,  a  permanent, 
unchanging  fullness,  and  power,  and  perfectness,  belonging 


120  THE  CREATOR  IN   ALL  THINGS. 

!  o  spiritual  being  when  separated  from  its  time  connections^ 
and  in  its  proper  home  in  eternity,  and  in  the  presence  of  its 
Creator. 

When  we  consider  the  exceeding  restriction  which  we 
found  in  the  plan  of  being,  and  the  exceeding  potency  of 
spirit,  as  spirit,  it  is  not  strange  that  the  Creating  Spirit, 
who  imposed  the  restriction  and  gave  the  power,  should,  at 
times,  give  some  extraordinary  evidence  of  His  presence  by 
a  sudden  baptism,  and  at  the  same  time  give  His  servants  a 
look  at  the  "  greatness  of  the  inheritance  "  by  which  they  are 
"heirs  of  God  and  joint-heirs  with  Jesus  Christ."  It  is  not 
only  a  manifestation  of  the  Spirit,  but  a  soul-manifestation, 
as  well. 

It  is  a  wonderful  help  to  believe,  and  still  better  to  know, 
that  it  is  possible,  in  the  life  we  now  live,  to  be  filled,  by  a 
spiritual  baptism,  with  a  perpetual,  deep  joy  and  peace,  for 
days  and  weeks  and  months,  and  perhaps  for  years  or  a  life- 
time, in  which  faith  is  so  strong  and  full  that  it  continues,  not 
merely  in  the  presence  of  visible  results,  but  directly  in  the 
face  of  no  apparent  result  whatever.  To  pray  and  work  with 
all  earnestness,  and  power,  and  joy,  without  seeing  any  move- 
ment, and  still  to  believe  that  it  has  all  gone  in,  in  God's 
administration,  as  working  r actors,  energizing  and  moving  ooi, 
though  all  unseen,— is,  perhaps,  the  highest  reach  of  faith, 
and  comes  only  by  being  filled  with  the  Spirit. 

We  may  notice  tliat  spiritual  baptism  proves,  beyond  all 
peradventure  (but  perhaps  i>nly  to  those  who  have  received 
it),  what  we  have  claimed  as  to  the  exceeding  and  wonderful 
potency  of  spiritual  presence.  To  my  mind  it  throws  great 
light  upon  the  whole  plan  of  being,  as  we  have  found  it  in 
the  previous  chapters.  It  shows  why  this  is  the  better,  if  not 
the  on]y  way  in  which  a  rationality  can  come  up  into  being, 
and  have  its  own  separate  personal  experience,  by  being 
separated,  as  it  is,  from  the  immediate  presence  of  its  Creator, 
in  its  formative  state. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  effect  of  spiritual  baptism  in 
excluding  thought,  is  not  to  be  understood  in  the  sense  of 


SPTKITLTAI.    r.APTISM.  1'jil 

preventing  thought  processes,  but  as  being  sufficient  without 
thought.  It  is  thut  emotional  state  which  is  caused  by  His 
presence,  in  a  soul  that  is  capacitated  to  receive  it.  The 
capacity  and  fitness  are  not  created  then  and  there,  but  have 
been  formed  in  a  spiritual  experience ;  and  the  baptism  is 
not  the  cause,  but  the  witness  of  the  Spirit,  to  the  reality  of 
the  facts.  There  may  be,  however,  a  baptism  for  service, 
which  gives  power,  and  is  a  gift  and  endowment  for  special 
work. 

In  other  cases,  the  baptism  may  be  for  the  communication 
of  some  fact,  which  cannot  as  well  be  given  in  any  other  way, 
and  may  be  wholly  special  and  private,  and  aside  from  this, 
may  not  have  any  particular  significance. 

As  this  subject  is  one  of  increasing  interest  in  our  day,  it 
may  be  well  to  examine  more  particularly  what  basis  there 
is,  in  our  construction,  for  any  kind  of  spiritual  communi- 
cation. 

(1)  The  intercourse  of  rational  beirgs  with  each  other  is 
always  that  of  spirit  vith  spirit.  But  (2)  as  v,e  receive  our 
first  impressions  from  without  (through  the  senses)  in  forms, 
we  naturally  seek  for  a  form  for  thought,  and  so  use  forms  of 
sound  in  words — i.e.,  language, — and  for  this  life,  at  least, 
form  of  some  kind  is  indispensable.  But  (3)  the  thought 
precedes,  and  exists  always — separate  from  the  word-form — 
so  that  God  (who  is  the  source  of  all  thought-power)  can 
present  it  to  us  (4)  without  outward  expression,  when  He  sees 
fit  so  to  do,  by  the  immediate  contact  of  Spirit  with  spirit, 
although  Ilis  method  of  doing  it,  from  the  very  fact  of  its 
not  havingany  apparent  representation,  is  beyond  our  present 
reach. 

He  communicates  with  us,  therefore,  either  with  or  without 
words.  If  by  the  Word,  we  must  turn  to  the  record  and  lock 
for  it  there.  This  contains  the  last  statements  which  God 
gives  to  man  in  a  spoken  language. 

But  as  Spirit  with  spirit,  He  still  speaks  to  us,  in  very  many 
ways,  without  words. 

Let  us  glance  a  moment  at  this  capacity  we  have  to  receive 


121  THE  CREATOR   IX   ALL   THINGS, 

impressions  unci  influences  outside  of  language.  If  we  find 
tiiat  we  have  such  a  capacity,  we  shall  be  better  prepared  to 
see  in  what  part  of  our  being,  God  meets  with  us, — by  what 
faculties  and  means, — aiid  how  far,  and  to  what  extent  and 
depth  of  meaning  ccmmunications  may  be  carried  on, — when 
it  is  not  by  speech,  or  by  words,  or  by  any  outward  form,  but 
by  His  unseen  and  unheard  presence  with  us,  as  Spirit  with 
spirit. 

In  an  instrumental  orchestra,  no  words  are  used,  no  voices 
are  heard,  no  gestures  are  made— (you  may  shut  your  eyes, 
it  is  all  the  same) — but  you  are  delighted — your  whole  being 
[inner  spiritual  being)  is  roused,  energized,  and  lifted  to  the 
highest  range  of  enjoyment, — not  by  forms  of  words,  but  by 
forms  of  inarticulate  sound.  If  you  were  weak,  you  are 
strengthened, — if  depressed,  you  are  encouraged,  stimulated, 
and  a  world  of  new  and  hopeful  thoughts  takes  the  place  of 
those  that  were  heavy  and  sad.  We  have,  then,  a  few  facts 
clearly  seen. 

1.  You  do  noi' (always)  iieed  words  to  make  you  receive  the 
most  poiverful  and  abiding  influences  which  the  human  soul 
can  bear. 

2.  If  you  nave  a  true  musical  faculty,  you  may  hear  all 
this — from  memory,  or,  to  a  certain  extent,  from  your  own 
improvising  power,  without  any  orchestra  of  instruments,  or 
any  audible  sound  whatever. 

3.  The  sight — that  which  comes  through  the  eye.  Look 
down  from  a  mountain  upon  a  beautiful  landscape,  or  look 
upon  a  picture  of  the  same  landscape  on  canvass,  or  out  upon 
the  ocean,  or  up  among  the  stars  at  night.  Nothing  speaks 
to  you  there  in  words.  No  need  that  it  should.  You  take 
the  thought, — the  beauty,  the  grandeur,  the  suggestivenes  of 
each  thing,  separately  or  as  a  whole — without  any  word 
uttered,  or  any  form  of  sound  to  present  it, — and  better  with- 
without  than  with,— and  yet  you  have  it — it  is  yours, — it  has 
become  a  part  of  your  being,  which,  in  memory,  you  are  to 
carry  along,  and  it  is  the  invisible  spirit  within  you,  that  has 
received  and  holds  it. 


SPIRITUAL   BAPTISM.  123 

4.  You'  retire  at  night,  and  these  pictures  of  things  seen 
through  the  day  are  still  before  you, — but  now  it  is  not 
through  the  eye  that  they  come,  nor  the  outward  form,  for 
the  object  is  not  there,  and  your  eyes  are  closed,  trying  to 
sleep.  But  the  pictures  are  there,— and  they  are  so  real,  eo 
positive,  and  have  taken  such  possession  of  your  spirit  (your 
inner  being),  that  j'ou  cannot  sleep  until  the  brain  becomes 
wearied  out  with  its  continued  activities.  We  have,  then, 
another  advance — to  wit : 

5.  There  is  no  absolute  need,  [in  order  to  a  positive  and 
powerful  spiritual  activity)  of  either  the  spoken  word,  or 
any  other  audible  sound,  or  of  the  eye,  or  the  ear,  or  any 
outward  object  whatever.  A  spiritual  being  can  act,  and 
can  receive  the  most  powerful  impressions,  wholly  within 
its  own  being,  independent  of  all  external  influences  from 
things  visible. 

6.  As  an  every-day  matter  of  fact,  the  spirit  is  constantly 
self-active  and  self-receptive,  wholly  irrespective  of  language — 
so  that  by  the  great  multitude  and  variety  of  outward  objects 
that  are  constantly  speaking  to  us  without  words,  and  im- 
pressing us  without  personality  or  will,  we  all  pass  through 
life,  receiving  iynpressions,  facts,  triiths,  latvs,  transactions, 
by  the  thousand,  without  tcords,  to  the  one  that  is  uttered  or 
spoken. 

7.  Now  if  we  note  that  we  do  this  by  our  spiritual  faculties 
only  (whether  mediate  or  immediate),  and  that  the  Creator, 
who  is  Himself  a  Spirit,  created  these  spiritual  powers,  and 
placed  them  at  our  disposal,  as  a  free  gift,  for  us  to  use,  and 
improve,  and  develop — Himself  having  the  same  faculties 
and  powers, — and  that  He  created  all  outward  forms  for  us 
to  use  in  our  development,  and  growth,  and  increase  of 
faculty,  and  gave  us  the  power  to  be  self-active  in  doing  it, 
and  to  "si2)-  tip  the  gift  that  is  in  i/s" — then,  most  emphatically, 
the  Being  who  is  able  to  act  upon  us,  and  does  act  upon  us 
so  powerfully,  through  material  things,  forms,  symbols, 
types,  can  act  upon  us  still  more  powerfully  direct,  as  Spirit 
with  spirit — without  forms,  symbols,  types,  words,  or  any 


1-4  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

outward  expression  whatever,  aud  we  may  suppose  that  the 
measure  of  this  direct  communion  with  the  Creator,  and  the 
power  so  received  will  depend,  mainly  (perhaps  altogether), 
upon  our  own  selves,  our  own  desire,  or  willingness,  to  have 
such  fellowship  with  Him,  and  our  practical  use  of  the  power 
that  comes  from  it. 

This  is  sufficient  in  regrad  to  the  general  subject  of  spiritual 
baptism,  but  it  may  be  of  interest  to  look  at  it  from  another 
stand-point  and  the  testimony  of  God's  Word.  We  will  take 
the  vision  of  John  at  Patmos. 

He  begins  by  saying,  "J  ivas  in  the  Spirit.''^  This  could 
not  be,  unless  the  writer  was,  himself,  a  spiritual  being.  Ac- 
cordingly, we  find,  in  all  the  Scriptures,  precisely  the  same 
word,  TTVEv/ia  (spirit),  used  to  designate  the  Being  of  God  and 
the  being  of  man.  Which  is  meant,  in  any  given  case,  can 
only  be  determined  by  the  context,  or  by  the  word  hob/,  as 
applied  to  God,  or  by  the  definite  article,  as  in  this  passage, 
"  The  Spirit  witnesseth  with  our  spirit "  (each  bearing  the 
same  testimony)  "  that  we  are  the  children  of  God." 

This  fact  that  the  same  word  is  used,  connecting  us  and 
identifying  our  nature  with  God's,  in  the  impjortant  element  of 
personality ,  is  of  the  greatest  significance, — and  yet,  like  all 
very  common  and  obvious  truths,  is  apt  to  be  overlooked. 

(1)  Our  communication  with  God  depends  wholly  upon  it. 

(2)  All  the  interchange  of  thought,  all  communion  with 
Him,  and  all  conscious  reception  from  Him  of  what  He  gives, 
and  (3)  all  prospect  of  ever  seeing  Him  and  dwelling  with 
Him,  depends  upon  the  fact  that  (in  addition  to  the  fellow- 
ship with  Christ,  as  man,  in  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood)  we 
have,  as  spiritual  beings,  a  basis  of  fellowship  with  Him,  in 
our  rational  construction,  and  the  elements  that  are  used  in 
that  construction.  From  this  we  can  understand  that  when 
St.  John  says,  '■^Iwas  in  the  Spirit,^'  there  was  an  intelligent 
meeting  and  free  communion  of  his  own  spirit  with  the  Spirit 
of  God. 

"And  I  heard  behind  me  a  great  voice,  as  of  a  trumpet, 
saying,  I  am  Alpha  and  Omega,  the  first  and  the  last,"  (and 


SriItlTUAL   BAPTISM.  125 

in  the  eighth  verse  is  udded.)  "  which  was,  and  is,  and  is  to 
come." 

This  takes  us  back  into  eternity — and  that  is  where  we  all 
need  to  begin,  in  looking  for  the  manifestation  of  the  love  of 
God.  Go  back,  in  imagination,  and  take  your  stand  there  in 
eternity,  or  ever  the  earth  and  the  world  were  made,  and 
think  of  the  work  that  was  to  be  planned  and  executed 
before  man  could  make  his  appearance — the  darkness  of  the 
great  deep,  that  was  to  be  lighted  up  and  made  endurable 
for  the  first  term  of  an  existence  that  was  there  to  have  its 
beginning — the  sun,  and  the  moon,  and  the  round  world,  to 
come  into  place,  and  begin  their  ceaseless  revolutions  over 
the  empty  void — all  their  elements  to  be  lashioned  and  placed 
in  their  orders  and  proportions — their  laws  made  inherent 
and  self-executing — their  obedience  perfect,  and  instant,  at 
the  moment  of  call — their  affinities  and  repulsions  measured 
and  imchanging — their  testimony  always  to  be  the  same, 
and  always  to  continue,  until  He  who  brought  them  forth 
shall  recall  them,  or  change  them  into  a  new  heavens  and  a 
new  earth, — all  these  impersonal  forces  to  appear  first,  and 
to  come  together  fitted  as  a  dwelling  pjace  for  him  who  was 
to  have  his  home  there,  and  who  was  to  be  personally 
adapted  to  il,  and  framed  in,  in  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood. 
This  body  of  such  materials  that  it  could  be  easily  vacated, 
and  yet  all  its  mechanism  as  perfect  as  though  it  was  to  last 
a  thousand  years  !  The  heart,  from  its  first  pulsations,  to  go 
on  without  rest,  except  in  fragments  of  moments,  day  and 
night,  day  and  night,  year  in  and  year  out,  until  the  term  of 
life  was  reached.  Something  was  to  be  present  in  tlie  organ- 
ization, (call  it  life,  or  what  you  will,)  that  should  have  a 
constant  provision  for  and  supervision  over  all  its  momentary 
movements, — recuperative  agencies  were  to  be  established — 
a  system  of  supply  and  demand,  of  taking  and  giving,  adding 
and  subtracting  to  be  everywhere  going  on,  and  all  the 
movements  to  be  ceaseless,  with  only  partial  stoppages  for 
rest  and  refreshment, — and  in  this  curious,  very  complex,  and 
very  busy  body  of  flesh  and  blood,  there  was  to  be  a  careful 


126  THK   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

and  very  complete  adaptation  to  an  indwelling  spirit, — all 
this  before  man  could  have  any  place  found  for  him — any 
ground  to  stand  on — any  tools  to  handle  —  any  lesson  to 
learn— any  eyes  to  see,  or  ears  to  hear,  or  any  opportunity 
whatever  to  make  a  beginning — much  less  to  go  on  with  an 
existence  after  having  begun.  The  problem  was,  to  begin  in 
such  a  way  as  to  go  on  forever,  and  give  to  man  a  fair  field 
for  all  his  activities — first  for  this  life,  an(?  then  for  the  life 
to  come. 

This  is  but  a  glance  at  a  few  only  of  ten  thousand  things, 
that  had  to  be  planned  and  executed,  and  put  in  practical 
working  order,  before  you  and  I  could  have  a  beginning — 
before  Christ  could  meet  with  us,  and  we  with  Him — before 
time,  itself,  could  be  measured  and  recorded,  and  its  suc- 
cessions established,  and  its  experiences  made  possible  to 
rational  beings.  Such  a  work,  no  one  but  Jehovah  could 
plan — no  one  but  Him  could  execute — no  one  but  the  ever- 
living,  all-powerful,  and  loving  Creator,  could  carry  forward 
through  the  swift-rolling  years.  And,  we  may  add,  no  one 
but  Him  can  keep  the  record  of  its  infinitely  varied  and 
manifold  transactions. 

It  was  a  vision — some  kind  of  faint  presentiment  of  this 
wonderful  being — which  John  saw  at  Patmos,  before  whom 
he  fell  as  one  dead.  Not  backward,  as  those  who  came  to 
take  Him  at  Gethsemane,  but  forward  (so  the  word  npoc 
plainly  indicates)  at  His  feet.  His  strength  failed  him,  but 
not  his  love  for  the  Master. 

So  may  it  be  with  us,  when  we  look  first  at  the  glorified 
Saviour,  that  if  we  fall,  it  may  be  towards  the  arms  that  were 
outstretched  for  us,  and  at  the  feet  that  were  pierced  for  us 
on  Calvary ! 

The  great  future  is  always  before  us,  and  into  that  future 
we  are  fast  traveling  on.  If  we  thank  God  "for  our 
creation"  and  redemption,  and  if  we  go  back  into  eternity 
to  find  the  beginning  of  His  providence  and  His  love  to  us, 
we  must  go  forward,  also,  into  the  eternity  where  He  dwells, 
for  a  full  reception  and  realization  of  that  providence  and 


SYMBOLS.  127 

that  love.  And  even  then,  we  shall  be  only  just  at  the 
threshold  of  the  eternal  years,  where  the  impressions  are  to 
be  deepened,  and  enlarged,  and  expanded,  forever  and  for- 
ever, world  without  end. 

XII.  Symbols.  As  in  the  plan  of  our  being  all  communi- 
cations with  each  other,  in  this  initial  life,  are  by  symbols — 
in  the  sense  applied  in  this  discussion — we  may  inquire  as  to 
their  adequacy  and  fitness  for  doing  their  appointed  work. 

The  only  perfect  symbols  are  those  made  by  the  Creator,, 
and  those  in  outward  form,  are  about  us  day  and  night,  as 
long  as  we  stay  among  them,  and  the  thought  they  develop 
in  ns,  and  express,  is  always  one  and  the  same — simple,  true 
and  unchangeable. 

But  in  all  symbols  of  our  own  construction,  there  is  more 
or  less  of  defect. 

Language,  as  the  symbol  of  thought,  will  always  sho^v 
some  imperfection,  because  of  the  human  element  in  its 
structure ;  but  as  our  power  of  construction,  so  far  as  it  goes, 
and,  in  its  own  fields  and  within  its  own  limits,  is  the  same 
and  identical  with  God's  power,  having  been  handed  over  to 
us  from  Himself  in  our  endowment,  we  are  able  to  construct 
a  symbol  of  thought  which,  for  all  practical  purposes  of  our 
present  life,  is  fully  adequate. 

But  the  use  of  a  thought-symbol,  we  are  to  bear  in  mind,  is 
for  that  which  is  definite  and  limited.  Its  value  lies  in  that 
particular,  and  in  its  representative  fitness. 

What  then  is  it  that  we  need  in  language,  in  reference  to 
thought  ? 

Evidently,  something  to  define — put  limit  and  form  to 
thought,  in  some  method  common  to  all, — and  just  this 
language  does. 

That  kind  of  mental  activity  which  can  be  placed  in  exact 
limits — so  that  when  the  symbol  has  received  it,  it  is  all 
there — has,  in  that  symbol,  found  its  entire  expression.  It 
is  perfect  form  for  that  content.  Nothing  can  improve  it. 
It  is  already  complete. 

For  these  purposes — i.e.,  for  that  which  in  its  definite 


128  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL    THINGS. 

content  can  be  put  in  exact  limits — langauge  in  heaven  can- 
not be  any  better  than  that  which  we  have  already,  and  the 
readiness  of  thought  to  take  (come  into)  definite  and  exact 
form  is  shown  in  the  vast  number  of  languages  and  dialects 
which  are  in  practical  use,  as  well  as  some  which  have  been 
superseded. 

But  thought  is  not  the  only  mental  activity  which  desires 
expressio.  .  In  studying  the  mental  plan,  we  found  the 
endowed  elements  of  mind  to  be,  even  in  their  very  begin- 
ning, of  exceeding  potency,  and  for  that  reason  would 
require  a  compulsory  restriction.  It  is  through  that  re- 
striction, in  a  flesh  and  blood  body,  shut  in  with  only  the 
senses  for  outward  objects,  that  we  are  compelled  to  take 
hold  of  the  particulars  of  things,  and  begin  our  first  activities 
on  these  lines  of  limits  and  exact  definitions,  quantities  and 
qualities,  forces  and  agencies, — but  this  is  only  the  frame- 
work, the  basis  and  foundation,  of — and  for — something 
higher,  and  in  this  higher  field  we  have  the  great  emotional 
department. 

What  symbol,  then,  have  we  for  this  out-go  ? 

Here,  again,  we  inquire,  What  is  it  in  emotion  that  we  wish 
to  express  ?  Is  it  something  precise,  exact,  definite,  limited  ? 
Is  it  not  rather  the  indefinite  and  unlimited  ? 

On  this  field  we  have  the  vast,  and  varied,  and  wonderful 
expressions  of  harmony  in  sound,  in  vocal  and  instrumental 
music — tone,  in  speech  and  oratory  —  laughter,  in  things 
ludicrous — form  and  color  iu  painting — rhythm  in  poetry — 
and  directions  in  gesture ;  and  as  the  emotion  appears  in 
these  forms,  it  often  appears  the  more  perfectly  that  it  is  not 
clearly  defined  and  sharply  outlined. 

We  have,  then,  these  varied  symbols  in  the  mental  plan, — 
the  word,  for  thought — s  mnd,  harmony  and  its  opposite,  for 
emotion — and  the  art  symbols,  painting,  sculpture,  archi- 
tecture, for  their  separate  expressions,  in  their  own  way  and 
on  their  own  ground,  and  after  their  peculiar  methods.  And 
we  are  not  to  suppose,  for  a  moment,  that  any  of  these  are 
inu'.Uquate  for  ihe  purj^Oces  tliey  we:c  designed  to  accom- 


SYMBOLS.  129 

plish,  in  the  plan  of  our  being,  or  that  they  are  in  any 
particular  defec.ive  or  imperfect. 

Here,  as  all  along  in  the  plan,  it  is  the  use  made  of  the 
powers  given,  in  which  the  imperfection,  or  defect,  or  posi- 
tive wrong,  makes  its  appearance. 

What  then,  it  may  be  asked,  are  we  to  say  of  those  spiritual 
activities  which  still  lie  beyond  these  symbolic  forms  ?  The 
reply  is— They  are  the  exponents  of  a  potency  and  glory  in 
spiritual  being,  which  must  wait  for  the  proper  time  and 
place  for  their  more  complete  expression.  On  this  outside 
ground,  we  have  already  given  certain  suggestions  and  out- 
lines, in  Spiritual  Baptism. 

He  will  come.  He  will  not  tarry- 
In  that  hour  and  in  that  place 

He  appoints  me,  I  shall  meet  Him, 
And  shall  see  Him,  face  to  face ! 


CHAPTER  II. 

PARTICULARS    IN    WHICH    THE    ENDOWMENT    HAS    NO 

PREPARATION   FOR   CHRIST'S  TEACHINGS    EXCEPT 

THE  CAPACITY  TO  CHANGE  OR  BE  CHANGED 

IN    ITS     GOVERNING     PURPOSE. 

"We  place  in  this  chapter  those  precepts  of  Christ — and  they 
are  the  most  central  of  all — which  are  not  represented  in  any 
initial  form  in  the  endowment,  as  ice  receive  it. 

We  have  found  a  beginning — an  initial  form— of  faith, 
prayer  and  worship,  in  the  mental  construction,  and  a  prepa- 
ration in  the  plan  of  being  for  self-denial  and  co-operation, — 
and  other  like  particulars  will  be  pointed  out  in  the  closing 
chapters,  but  in  this  we  take  up  that  which  is  distinctively 
Christian,  and  not  common  to  other  religious  systems,  ad 
not  found  in  our  endowment, — for  there  is  an  absence — an 
entire  lack— in  the  mental  structure,  of  any  specific  prepa- 
ration for  some  of  the  most  important  teachings  and  precepts 
of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 

We  come  here,  upon  a  need  of  something  entirely  new, — 
neither  provided  in  the  endowment,  nor  prepared  for  in  any 
facts  of  experience,  but  on  the  contraiy,  it  is  experience 
itself  which  creates  the  difficulties  it  cannot  remove. 

This,  which  the  endowment  cannot  do,  is  that  which  Christ 
came  to  give  to  those  who  will  receive  it,  in  Him,— for  we 
may  be  very  devotional,  and  reverential,  and  worshipful,  and 
yet  not  be  Christians. 

We  will  now  examine  the  only  safe  and  reliable  test  of 
Christian  character — to  wit : 

I.  Forgiveness.  This  is  an  entrance  upon  premises  not 
before  traversed,  and  therefore  wholly  new.  It  is  an  ad- 
vance—not round  about,  merely— or  approaching  afar  off— 
U30) 


FORGIVENESS.  '  ISl 

or  running  parallel  with — but  an  advance,  and  entrance  into 
the  kingdom  of  God. 

We  can  believe,  we  can  trust,  we  can  hope,  and  aspire,  and 
pray — but  to  forgive  is  not  given  in  the  endowment. 

Could  it  have  been  given  ?  Was  it  possible  to  give  to  man 
securely,  and  as  a  part  of  his  inalienable  powers,  a  forgiving 
spirit  ?  We  will  not  stop  to  inquire,  but  take  the  facts  as  we 
And  them. 

All  we  can  say,  as  the  case  stands,  is,  that  an  unforgiving 
spirit  may  change — or  be  changed — and  become  forgiving, — 
but  only  so  by  help  from  above. 

But,  just  as  faith  is  not  without  cause,  so  forgiveness  is 
not,  in  any  case,  without  cause.  To  avoid  any  misconception 
here,  we  must  look  into  the  matter,  and  see  the  ground,  or 
basis,  in  which  forgiveness  is  right. 

1.  A  forgiving  spirit  is  one  which  forgives,  where  there  is 
a  lational  cause  for  it  in  the  conduct  of  the  person  which  has 
given  the  offense.    This  may,  or  may  not  be.  Christian. 

2.  The  true.  Christian  forgiving  spirit,  is  that  which  for- 
gives freely,  even  when  there  is  nothing  in  the  conduct  of  the 
offending  person  to  prompt  it.  Not  without  cause — but  the 
cause  is  in  itself,  in  its  union  with  Christ. 

3.  An  unforgiving  spirit  is  one  which  refuses  to  forgive, 
for  any  cause,  or  on  any  terms  whatever. 

The  forgiving  spirit  will  not  carry  any  ill-will,  or  any  trace 
of  it,  to  any  ^soul  on  earth.  The  unforgiving  is  always 
looking  out  sharp  for  an  enemy.  They  are  as  wide  apart  as 
the  east  is  from  the  west. 

Now  Christ  is  the  source  and  the  cause  of  our  forgiveness, 
and  of  the  forgiving  spirit  in  us.  Ephesians  iv.  32.  "For- 
giving each  other  freely" — i.e., without  equivalent — "even 
as"  [Kadil><:  ml)  "God  also  in  Christ  hath  freely  forgiven 
you." 

If  God  has  His  reasons  for  forgiving  us  in  Christ,  so  have 
we,  in  Christ,  reasons  for  forgiving  each  other.  It  is  all  in 
Him — but  it  is  not,  and  cannot  be,  separate  from  Him.  For 
justice  must  be  satisfied  as  well  as  mercy,  therefore,  we 


132  THE  CREATOR  IN  ALL  THINGS. 

find,  there  must  be  a  mediator  in  whom  justice  and  mercy 
can  meet. 

It  is  proper  to  say  that  the  rendering  I  have  given  above 
{forgiving  freely),  is  slightly  incorrect — not  as  expressing  too 
much,  but  as  tautological — for  the  very  heart  of  forgiveness 
is  that  it  gives  freely— which  is  the  precise  meaning  of  the 
Greek  word  here  used, — and  so  to  give  freely  (in  reference 
to  offenses)  is  to  forgive. 

The  other  Greek  forms  are — to  remit,  put  away — and  to 
release, — and  in  the  Hebrew  there  are  at  least  eight  different 
words,  each  with  its  separate  way  of  expressing  the  same 
fact — to  wit :  to  cover,  blot  out,  carry,  hold  guiltless,  take 
away,  thrust  aioay,  lift  up,  x>ciss  over,  or  pass  by. 

But  everywhere  it  is  on  the  ground  of  covenant  conditions. 
Therefore— 

1.  Forgiveness  is  not  purely  an  arbitrary  act.  It  is  not 
strictly  a  free  act — i.  e.,  it  is  not  given  without  cause.  If  it 
were  so  given,  it  would  not  be  a  rational  proceeding.  It  is 
the  injustice  of  the  wrong  done  that  makes  it  hard  to  forgive, 
and  it  is  this  entirely  proper  sense  of  what  justice  requires, 
that  makes  the  difficulty — and  makes  also  the  unforgiving 
spirit.  Forgiveness  can  only  come,  therefore,  from  some 
adequate  cause. 

As  between  the  Christian  and  his  Creator  forgiveness 
comes  through  that  change  of  purpose  and  conduct  expressed 
by  "repentance,"  but  remission  of  the  penalty  attached  to  the 
transgression,  which  makes  forgiveness  possible,  is  only  in 
and  through  Christ.  But  as  He  is  the  cause.  He  becomes 
also  the  security  that  it  will  hold.  This  brings  one  into  a 
new  and  peculiarly  personal  relation  to  Him — and  in  being 
freely  forgiven  in  Him,  the  spiritual  joy  of  a  free  and  pure 
heart,  changes  the  unforgiving  to  a  forgiving  spirit,  the 
unloving  to  a  loving  spirit,  and  we  are  born  into  a  new  state 
and  condition,  and  become  children  of  God. 

2.  As  the  revolt  of  the  created  will  has  been  a  free  act,  so 
the  compliance  with  the  conditions  of  forgiveness  must  be  a 
free  act — and  these  conditions  are  imperative.    But  the  will, 


FORGIVENESS.  133 

having  chosen  the  wrong,  has  lost  its  perfect  freedom,  and 
so  will  have  lost  its  full  power  of  choosing  the  right,  and  until 
this  is  restored,  no  provision  for  forgiveness  will  be  of  any 
avail. 

The  whole  difficulty  is  personal  and  spiritual,  and  if  there 
is  to  be  any  remedy,  it  must  be  purely  a  personal  matter, 
and  between  persons.  It  is  not  a  thing  of  doing,  or  an 
external  act  of  any  kind  whatever,  but  a  wholly  internal, 
unseen,  but  not  unconscious  dealing  of  spirit  with  Spirit — 
the  finite  with  the  Infinite — the  created  with  the  Uncreated — 
the  child  with  its  Father. 

Now,  in  this  pprsonal  transaction  between  them,  another 
Person,  the  Holy  Spirit,  has  the  opportunity  of  acting  unseen 
upon  the  soul,  and  presenting  Christ  as  the  Mediator  and 
Saviour,  and  where  by  this  means  a  true  reconciliation  with 
the  Father  is  effected,  there  is  proof  that  the  Spirit  found 
within  the  personal,  created  endowment,  faculties  which 
could  be  receptive  of  His  influences  and  His  counsel, — 
the  very  great  and  peculiar  advantages  of  which,  in 
coming  unseen  and  without  form,  have  already  been  pointed 
out.  In  this  practical  fact,  that  lost  souls  are  so  re- 
covered, where  the  will  is  reached  and  won,  is  a  direct 
proof  that  the  mental  structure  will  admit  (within  a  Chris- 
tian experience)  the  entire  change  needed  for  a  forgiving 
spirit. 

We  use  this  term  as  expressive  of  a  forgiving  state,  for  the 
soul  has  got  to  know  the  ground  of  forgiveness,  and  to 
forgive  itself,  and  to  know  that  it  is  forgiven.  This  could 
not  be  marked  out,  or  prepared  for,  either  in  the  mental 
structure,  or  in  the  general  plan,  for  it  is  a  resultant — the 
product  of  an  experience  amid  the  facts  in  which  it  is  to  be 
formed. 

Mind  we  have  found  to  be  a  process  of  growth,  and  for- 
giveness is  the  highest  Christian  act  that  is  possible  to  man, 
and  demands  the  highest  Christian  grace  and  character.  If 
we  find  it  in  a  child,  as  often  we  do,  it  is  chiefly  because  it 
has  not,  as  yet,  any  sharp  sense  of  wrong.    It  has  not  had. 


134  THE   CREATOK   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

and  could  not  have,  an  experience  that  would  test  it,  as  being 
anything  more  than  good  nature — a  kind  disposition.  But 
when  the  child  has  grown  up,  and  forgives,  freely,  the  real 
offenses  of  others,  it  can  only  do  so  as  a  Christian.  The 
natural  disposition  may  help,  but  cannot  attain,  without 
assistance,  a  forgiving  spirit. 

It  is  a  gift  from  above,  and  can  only  be  given  in  and 
through  an  experience ;  and  that  experience,  also,  must  take 
place,  and  reach  all  its  results — including  this  of  forgive- 
ness—in a  formative  state. 

This  formative  state  could  only  be  provided — ^just  as  it  is 
provided — by  an  arrangement  that  permits  the  created  en- 
dowment— not  only  to  be  free,  and  to  be  left  undisturbed  in 
its  freedom — but  to  form,  itself,  to  use  its  own  powers  in  its 
own  construction  as  a  personality.  All  this  has  got  to  be  the 
result  of  its  continued  activity,  i:i  a  time  duration,  and  with 
other  personalities,  who  are  occupied  in  the  same  way,  and 
for  whom  the  cosmos  has  been  created,  and  a  body  for  each 
to  dwell  in,  and  a  system  of  fixed  laws  prepared  for  all  of 
them,  and  so  opportunities  come  in  for  the  family  and  the 
social  connections,  and  the  religious  institutions,  and  the 
educational  provisions,  and  business  transactions,  and  Ian- 
gauge  is  found  to  carry  thouglit  and  connect  all  parties,  and 
in  all  these  particulars,  the  incoming  party,  beginning  at  a 
blank,  has  got  to  become  acquainted  with  the  main  facts, 
and  come  into  collision  with  all  sorts  of  people,  and  so 
comes,  after  a  working  experience,  into  the  use  of  its  powers, 
and  gains  for  itself,  if  wisely  used,  a  self-command  and  a 
self-possession.  But  all  along,  in  this  process— which  may 
be  for  years — it  has  been  in  a  formative  state. 

If  it  has  used  its  faculties  rationally,  it  will  have  dis- 
covered its  own  weakness  and  perverseness,  ami  have  become 
a  Christian,  and  so  will  be  looking  forward  joyfully  to  the 
life  to  come. 

But  no  man  or  woman  is  born  a  Christian,  until  born  again. 
This  (conversion)  may  come  at  oi.ce— in  a  moment — and  in 
this  will  come  a  forgiving  spirit,  and  will  show  itself  at 


PATIENCE,  ENDURANCE,  LONG-SUFFERING.  135 

once, — but  the  Christian  character  is  a  bec<  ming — a  result — 
a  growth. 

'•To  those  who  received  Him,  to  tlieni  lie  gave  authority 
{ycvsa'&a/)  to  become  children  of  God."  That  which  is  born  of 
the  Spirit,  and  that  which  hath  been  begotten  of  God,  begins, 
by  the  terms  used  {birth),  as  a  child,  and  is  not  full-grown 
Christian  character — but  is  no  longer  bound,  and  so,  being 
set  free,  has  a  power  in  liberty  {eiovSia)  to  become  a  child  of 
God,  by  receiving  Christ  in  the  act  of  faith,  and  then  to  go 
on  "  unto  the  fullness  of  the  stature  of  a  perfect  man  in 
Christ  Jesus." 

The  self-denial,  the  faith,  and  the  forgiving  spirit,  may  then 
be  well-settled  and  permanent  characteristics,  thoroughly 
tried  and  tested,  bfit  only  so  as  they  have  been  reached 
by  a  strictly  personal  experience.  To  suppose  that  they  can 
be  given  at  once  in  maturity,  is  to  suppose  an  impossibility. 

We  must  have  close  dealings  with  whatever  is  to  be  our 
own,  and  all  Christian  experience  is  strictly  personal  and 
individual.  It  cannot  come  at  once,  and  it  cannot,  in  any 
particular,  be  handed  over  from  one  to  another. 

II.  Patience,  Endwance,  Long-suffering.  "We  see,  instantly, 
that  these  can  only  appear  as  sequents— i.  e.,  by  our  being 
placed  in  conditions  that  create  (not  develop)  them. 

They  come  to  us — not  in  the  endowment,  for  that,  in  the 
beginning,  except  in  its  constitutional  adaptation,  has  nothing 
bat  the  cai)acity  to  act — but  they  come ;  they  appear,  after 
a  while,  to  others,  and  to  our  own  consciousness  also,  as 
something  new,  something  not  seen  before,  and  not  present 
befor^,  but  present  now,  and  we  may  say  of  this  that  it  has 
been  formed  in  us, — begotten  of  God,  but  secured  by  the  indi- 
vidual act,  so  that  it  is  also  self-begotten, — and  the  formative 
process  has  been  carried  on  in  an  actual,  positive,  and  con- 
tinuous dealing  with  the  facts  and  circumstances  which  favor 
the  process. 

It  has  been  "  God  working  in  us  both  to  will  and  to  work," 
but  the  working  [evepyeuv)  implies  the  highest  spiritual  ac- 
tivity—not a  passive  reception  of  Christian  grace,  but  an 


13G  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALT.   THINGS. 

energetic  putting  forth  of  faculty,  in  the  busy  activities  and 
trials  of  life. 

The  jwiner  comes  in  the  usiyig,  and  only  so. 

In  this  light  we  may  understand  Galatians  iv.  19,  "Until 
Christ  be  formed  in  you,"  and  this,  "  Be  ye  transformed  " — 
the  same  word  used  in  the  transfiguration  of  Christ,  but 
referring  here  to  the  inward  change,  "  the  renewing  of  your 
minds." 

III.  Obedience.  This  also  is  not  given  in  the  endowment, 
and  could  not  be  given. 

Outwardly  it  is  wholly  a  matter  of  drill. 

Inwardly  it  comes  by  the  use  of  faculties,  made  purely 
rational  by  the  Holy  Spirit. 

It  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that  in  reference  to  the  plan 
of  being,  the  human  spirit  can  be  made  obedient — is  suscep- 
tible of  it,  and  can  be  trained  to  yield — to  a  higher  power. 

Its  necessity  is  found— not  in  any  arbitrary  will  outside  of 
the  created  will,  not  that  at  all — but  in  the  exceeding  potency 
of  its  own  will, — and  in  the  exceeding  potency  of  its  own 
rationality,  which  at  first  fails  to  see  why  it  should  obey. 

We  will  examine  the  subject  in  one  or  two  special  relations. 

1.  Obedience  to  authority,  in  its  appointment  in  human 
government,  has  reference  solely  to  the  welfare  of  the  people. 
The  interests  of  all  call  for  it  from  each  member  of  the 
community.  In  the  Divine  government  it  also  includes  and 
secures  the  interests  of  all,  but  is  due  to  the  Creator  in  His 
own  right.  Although  His  right  is  one  which  the  Creator 
Himself  cannot  put  aside  at  any  future  time,  it  is  evident 
that  the  lesson  of  obedience  is  one  that  will  be  more  specially 
needed,  and  more  constantly  needed,  in  the  first  experiences 
of  life  than  at  later  periods.  Christ  said  to  His  disciples :  "J 
call  you  no  longer  servants,  but  friends.'''' 

2.  "When  that  time  comes,  authority  is  no  longer  a  restraint, 
or,  at  least,  is  not  felt  as  a  restraint.  And  that  is  the  aim  of 
all  law — to  secure  freedom  toward  every  good  end. 

This  is  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God — those  who  have  been 
called  into  His  kingdom  and  glory. 


OBEDIKNCK.  io7 

3.  Obedience  to  tiuthority  is  needed,  first,  because  the 
nature  of  man,  if  uncontrolled,  becomes  speedily  uncon- 
trollable, and  steps  beyond  the  call  of  any  authority,  either 
human  or  Divine.  It  has  the  power  to  do  this,  and  with  the 
power  it  often  has  the  disposition  and  the  will. 

There  is  no  trusting  it  without  a  curb-bit. 

Its  elemeuts  are  of  the  fiery  nature  of  spiritual  being, 
endowed  with  free  will  and  personality.  It  is,  at  once,  a 
separate  actor  in  the  realm  of  being.  Very  few  parents- 
even  amoug  church-members — have  any  adequate  conception 
of  these  facts. 

If  a  child  is  permitted  to  have  its  own  way,  it  will  go 
to  ruin— not  because  of  its  weakness,  but  because  of  its 
strength, — not  because  of  its  feebleness,  but  because  of  its 
power.  Of  course  we  do  not  mean  physical  strength  and 
power,  but  power  of  will — the  spiritual  element. 

All  spiritual  being  is  power— and  just  as  much  so,  in  its 
limits,  in  a  child  as  at  maturity.  It  may,  and  dees,  increase 
with  the  exercise  of  its  faculties,  but  is  always  essentially 
the  same  in  the  child  as  in  the  adult.  Its  first  lesson  should 
be,  obedience — submission  to  authority — instant  yielding  to  the 
just  claim  of  a  will  higher  than  its  oicn. 

4.  A  further  necessity  of  this,  in  the  plan  of  man's  begin- 
ning, lies  in  the  need  of  a  constant  teaching, — and  there  can 
be  no  teaching  to  one  who  is  not  obedient.  There  must  be 
a  cordial  recognition  of  authority— and  loyalty  to  this,  all 
along,  from  cbildhoud  to  maturity,  and  so  on  to  the  end  of 
this  first  life,  is  the  only  wise  and  rational  beginning.  So, 
also,  it  is  the  only  wise  and  rational  preparation  for  the  life 
to  come.    As  in  heaven,  so  on  earth,  Thy  tvill  be  done. 

5.  Parents  who  bring  up  their  childien  at  random,  without 
any  settled  plan  or  system— except  a  system  of  guess-work- 
may  expect  trouble  without  end.  But  no  system  or  plan  will 
be  of  much  account,  without  the  lesson  of  obedience  well 
drilled  in  the  very  heart  of  the  child.  This  is  the  first, 
middle,  and  last,  in  family  government. 

6.  Isext  comes  the  teaching— which,  according  to  God's 


138  TllK   CKEATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

appointment,  is  to  be  botli  human  and  Divine,— or,  more 
exactly  stated,  it  is  to  be,  or  should  be,  the  teaching  of  God's 
Truth  through  some  human  agency.  In  Christian  families, 
the  best  teachers  are  father  and  mother,  and  the  duty  cannot 
safely  be  handed  over  to  any  other  party. 

Next  to  this,  is  the  teaching  of  the  pastor  to  the  people,  in 
the  congregation. 

IV.  The  New  Birth.  The  plan  of  our  being  having  been 
revealed  as  involving,  in  its  first  and  formative  state,  a 
spiritual  v\'arfare— through  which  a  righteous  character  may 
be  permanently  formed,  in  accordance  with  the  fixed  laws 
of  spiritual  being — a  powder  must  be  received  from  some 
quarter,  by  which  this  spiritual  contest  may  be  carried  on, 
and  a  victory  attained. 

But  as  this  power  is  not  given  in  the  endowment,  it  can 
now  come  only  from  the  Creator, — and  when  this  comes, 
whether  gradually  or  suddenly,  the  power  and  the  will  to 
carry  on  the  warfare  both  appear  together.  A  union  is 
effected  with  Christ,  who  gives  and  continues  both  the  will 
and  the  power;  a  fellowship  with  Him  is  established ,  and 
the  liberty  of  a  child  of  God  is  freely  given  to  him,  and  the 
joy  and  peace  of  acting  in  harmony  and  conscious  agreement 
with  the  Creator  and  Kedeemer — and  all  these  constitute  a 
change  equivalent  to  being  born  again. 

It  is  the  beginning  of  a  new  life. 

The  preparation  for  this,  in  the  mental  construction,  is 
found  in  our  receptiveness,  and  in  the  permanence  of  those 
spiritual  laws  through  which  such  changes  are  seen  to  be 
possible,  and  which,  as  matters  of  fact  are  seen  to  be  real. 
These  changes  do  take  place,  and  as  they  in  whom  these 
changes  are  seen  could  not  themselves  effect  the  change,  it  is 
evident  that  the  Creating  Spirit  does  the  work.  There  is 
nothing  in  the  mental  structure  to  hinder  (the  will  excepted), 
but  everything  to  favor  the  work ;  and  as  soon  as  there  is  a 
willingness  on  our  part  to  receive  the  help  we  need,  we  do 
receive  it,  and  the  work  goes  on. 

There  is  no  reason  why  we  may  not  receive  sympathy,  help 


KIGIITKOU.SXESS  V.d 

and  power  from  God,  seeing  that  we  do  receive  sympathy, 
help  and  power  from  each  other,  and  could  not  well  live  with- 
out it. 

In  each  case  it  is  a  dealing  between  spiritual  beings;  but 
with  God  we  have  to  do  with  the  One  who  created  us,  and  io 
whom  we  are  already  more  nearly  related  by  that  connection 
than  with  any  other,— and  who  has  not  only  the  power  but 
the  desire,  to  perfect  our  being  in  every  particular,  and  make 
us  joint-heirs  with  Christ  of  all  tliat  He  has  prepared  for  His 
people.    This  is  the  plan  of  our  being. 

lu  the  first  birth,  the  party  coming  into  being  is  not  con- 
sulted, and  has  no  part  and  no  responsibility.  But  in  the 
new  birth  he  is  himself  a  consenting  actor  in  the  transaction, 
and  by  placing  his  own  will  cordially  iu  the  work,  he  becomes 
{to  that  extent)^  in  a  way  entirely  new  and  personal,  a  partici- 
pant in  his  own  new  structural  creation,  and  has  his  own 
share  in  the  work,  in  the  same  manner  as  by  the  exercise  of 
all  his  faculties  he  shares  in  their  construction.  In  this 
manner,  and  only  in  this  manner,  rational  beings  of  our  order 
and  rank  can  be  made  permanently  aad  eternally  secure 
against  the  powers  of  evil, — by  becoming— consciously  and  by 
a  joyful  assent  of  the  will — partakers  of  the  Divine  nature. 

v.  Bighteousness.  This,  like  obedience,  and  endurance, 
can  only  come  in — and  not  prior  to — the  activities  of  the 
soul,  and  therefore,  cannot  be  given  iu  the  endowment. 

"  The  untried  is  a  negative  character,  and  can  become 
positive  only  through  trial."    [Fairhairn.) 

'■'■Bighteousness,  in  reference  to  God,  is  the  perfect  coinci- 
dence between  His  nature  and  His  acts.  It  is,  therefore,  in 
reference  to  man,  a  right  state,  of  which  God  is  the  standard. 
This  state,  following  the  Divine  acquittal,  becomes  a  princi- 
ple of  action,  and  this  principle  of  righteousness,  expressed 
in  action,  is  finally  present  in  the  result  of  action."  [Her- 
mann Cremer.) 

The  power  to  reach  and  abide  in  this  state,  comes  from 
Christ,  but,  like  any  other  gift  or  faculty,  is  increased  by  its 
exercise,  until,  in  the  Christian  so  living,  there  will  also  be, 


HO  TllK   cr.KATOU   ;X    ALL   THINGS. 

when  completed,  the  same  cuiucidence  between  his  nature 
and  his  acts  that  there  is  in  the  Divine  nature,  and  for  the 
same  reason — i.  c,  that  there  is  nothing  to  hide. 

For  this  reason,  also,  the  prayer  of  a  righteous  man  availeth 
much.  Paraphrased,  "  The  prayer  of  a  righteous  man,  in  its 
spiritual  power  {svep-yia),  is  effective." 

VI.  31acle  Partakers  of  the  Divine  Nature.  This  precedes 
and  prepares  for  the  fellowship. 

Fellowship  with,  and  to  partake  of  (the  noun  and  the  verb 
form  of  the  same  root),  are  equivalent  terms,  as  here  used. 

We  partake  of  the  nature  of  any  one,  in  those  particulars, 
in  which  there  is  entire  harmony  and  agreement,  as  in  dispo- 
sition, purpose,  character  and  will. 

This  is  the  only  real  union  we  have  with  each  other,  and — 
except  in  the  endowment — it  is  the  only  union  we  have  with 
our  Creator. 

Being  in  Christ  means  having  His  mind  and  Spirit,  and  is 
not  a  mystical  but  an  intelligible  unity  of  similar  elements. 

We  are  all  partakers,  to  some  extent,  of  a  father's  nature, 
and  of  a  mother's  nature,  by  birth,  and  yet,  however  great 
the  likeness,  we  are  entirely  distinct. 

The  Creator  does  not  put  forth  from  Himself  a  rational 
endowment,  and  take  it  back  again  into  His  own  being. 
Something  like  this  He  may  do  with  a  created  force,  but  not 
with  a  rationality. 

To  have  the  mind  of  Christ  and  the  spirit  of  Christ,  and  to 
co-work  with  Him  in  ail  His  purposes,  so  far  as  they  are 
communicated  to  us,  is  to  be  in  Him — and  this,  as  He  is 
Divine,  is  to  become  a  partaker  of  the  Divine  nature 

But  as  we  get  our  likeness  to  father  and  mother  by  birth, 
so  being  born  of  the  Spirit  brings  the  likeness  to  Christ, — and 
as  the  unity  and  fellowship  involved  in  the  partaking  of 
another's  nature  comes  from  the  likeness,  so  we  become 
childrtn  of  God  and  partake  of  His  nature. 

A  sour  stump  will  grow  the  sweet  orange,  if  budded  with 
a  sweet  orange,  and  the  fruit  be  as  good  and  abundant  as 
that  grown  from  a  tree  from  the  seed.    But  it  is  only  by 


FELLOWSHIP.  141 

ingrafLiug  a  new  kind  of  life.  All  we  can  get  from  the  sour 
orange  tree,  by  cultivation  or  any  other  line  of  development, 
is  a  larger  crop  of  sour  fruit. 

VII.  Fellowship.  The  ground  of  this,  in  the  plan  of  our 
being,  is  not  merely  iu  a  likeness  of  elements,  as  spiritual 
beings,  with  Ilim  who  created  these  elements,  but  an 
identity,  so  that  God  is  in  us  already  in  the  endowment, — 
and  this  is  the  first  ground  of  our  fellowship ;  and  the  second, 
which  belongs  wholly  to  an  experience,  is  that  union  with 
Christ,  through  which  our  sins  are  taken  away,  and  the 
sinful  nature  cleansed  and  purified.  "  Without  me,"  He 
said,  "ye  can  do  nothing." 

This  He  illustrated,  also,  in  the  figure  of  the  vine  and  the 
bra.  ches,  and  in  the  smiple  memorial  which  He  instituted. 
As  bread  and  wine  (that  is  pure,  not  alcoholic)  are  as- 
similated by  going  into  the  blood,  are  incorporated  as 
life  factors  in  the  body,  so  must  Christ — His  spirit.  His 
disposition,  His  obedience.  His  gentleness.  His  compas- 
sion, His  humility,  His  long-suffering.  His  willingness  to 
die  for  others — be  received  by  us,  and  be  assimilated  and 
incorporated  into  our  being,  as  life -factors  the  to  soul.  In 
this  way  only  do  we  receive,  in  Him  and  from  Him,  eternal 
life. 

There  is  then,  and  not  before,  a  true  fellowship  with  the 
Father,  and  with  the  Son,  and  with  the  Holy  Ghost.  This  is 
the  supreme  aim  and  purpose  of  rational  being. 

This  union  with  Him  is,  in  this  manner,  equivalent  to 
being  born  from  above.  Christ  made  no  charge  against  the 
first  birth,  but  said,  emphatically,  that  it  was  not  sufficient, 
and  that  we  must  also  be  born  of  the  Spirit.  The  way,  the 
truth,  and  the  life,  were  all  to  be  souglit  and  found  in  Him. 
Men  were  sent  all  over  the  world  to  teach  this  and  all  other 
doctrine  connected  therewith.  Angels  were  not  sent  for  to 
do  this  work,  but  men  were  taken  out  of  the  common  ranks, 
not  above,  but  with  them,  who  could  be  in  full  sympathy 
and  fellowship  with  them, — and  these  men  became  overseers, 
presbyters,   pastors,   deacons,   evangelists,   and   other   co- 


142  THE  CREATOR  IN  ALL   THINGS. 

workers  in  the  ministry  of  reconciliation — in  which  women  ^ 
also,  had  their  place  and  their  proper  work. 

There  is  another  ministry,  also,  equally  if  not  more  im- 
portant in  some  particulars,  to  wit — trouble,  sorrow,  need, 
sickness,  adversity,  pain,  suffering  and  tribulation,  all  of 
which  are  powerful  factors  and  co-workers  on  the  same 
line — for  if  there  is  to  be  the  fellowship  of  joy,  there  must  be 
also  the  fellowsbip  of  suffering. 

VIII.  The  Presence  or  God.  The  fellowship  and  love 
between  persons  of  like  sympathies  and  character  may  be  so 
great  that  even  a  temporary  separation  is  felt  to  be  a  great 
loss,  and  nothing  can  take  the  place  of  it. 

This  is  precisely  the  case  with  the  Christian,  after  being 
fully  granted  the  liberty  of  the  children  of  God,  His  presence 
is  then  desired,  constantly,  and  it  is  not  so  much  for  prayer, 
or  any  formal  intercourse  with  Him  in  set  hours  and  places, 
as  to  know — be  conscious  in  a  way  not  easily  defined,  but  no 
less  positive — that  He  is  present. 

This,  without  any  expression  or  formal  manifestation, 
becomes  a  pure  joy,  and  is  not  so  much  worship  as  reciprocal, 
unspoken  communion.  There  is  a  nearness  to  God  some- 
times attained,  in  which  His  servants  do  not  urge,  but 
simply  present  their  requests,  and  quietly  await  His  pleasure. 
"In  Thy  presence  is  the  fullness  of  joy,  and  at  Thy  right 
hand  are  pleasures  for  evermore." 

There  are  certain  outgoing  potencies  manifesting  them- 
selves silently  but  effectively  in  what  we  have  termed — 

Spiritual  Presence.  1.  In  the  make-up  of  spiritual  being, 
the  emotional  was  found  to  be  secondary  in  the  activities  of 
the  powers  given,  and  pure  joy  was  found  as  a  resultant 
of  every  rational  activity.  Hence,  every  rational  activity 
carries  in  itself — ready  to  come  forth — an  accompaniment  of 
pure  joy. 

The  invariable  law,  therefore,  in  reference  to  experience — 
the  active,  on-going,  practical  use  of  the  endowment— is, 
that  in  the  order  either  of  cause  or  time,  the  emotional  is 
never   first  —  never  piecedent  —  never,  in  a  proper   sense,. 


SPIRITUAL   PKESENCE.  143 

casijial  —  but  always  points  backward  to  some  rational 
efficiency,  or  activity,  in  which  it  is  born,  and  out  of  which 
it  comes  forth. 

Now  let  us  suppose  that  being  itself,  in  its  purity,  whether 
normally  so,  or  sanctified  in  an  experience,  has  such  a 
rational  efficiency  in  its  elements  below  their  activity  and 
prior  to  any  action.  Then,  in  such  elements  there  may  be  a 
per-manent  ground  for  a  continual  state  of  rational  joy,  having 
its  source — its  birth — not  in  its  activities,  but  in  itself. 

We  can  readily  imagine  this  of  the  Creator.  Now,  in  a 
limited  sense,  and  in  the  reduced  proportions  of  a  being  that 
is  derived— not  self-existent, — can  we  find  such  a  state 
among  created  rationalities  V  • 

It  is  simply  a  question  of  fact — and  it  is  a  fact  we  are  all 
well  acquainted  with — that  persons  of  like  sympathies  and 
tastes  are  drawn  toward  each  other,  and  find  a  joy  simply 
in  each  other's  presence,  that  does  not  need  to  come  out  into 
words,  or  any  formal  expression,  for  it  comes  face  to  face  and 
soul  to  soul,  and  expresses  itself  direct,  in  and  by,  personal 
presence.  So  that  the  spiritual  presence  of  pure  rationalities 
(we  may  be  positive)  is  itself  a  joy  to  each  other,  first  and 
foremost,  below  and  prior  to,  any  active  expression,  and  is 
constant  and  continual,  and  never-ceasing  (when  within  the  ' 
range  of  each  other's  influence,  as  now  stated),  and  when  to 
this  is  added  the  outflowing  power  of  this  same  spiritual 
presence,  from  the  Creator— the  Father  of  all  spirits, — we 
may  begin  to  have  some  conception  of  the  joys  of  spiritual 
being  that  are  placed  inalienably  in  the  very  foundation- 
structure  of  the  soul,  simply  as  spirit,  having  likeness  to,  and 
silent  spiritual  communion  icith,  others,  and  with  their  Creator 
and  Redeemer. 

2.  This,  being  in  the  structure,  is  separate  from,  and 
independent  of,  any  facts  of  experience. 

This  attractive  power  in  spiritual  being  is  precisely  analo- 
gous to  the  attractions  and  repulsions  of  force  elements,  and 
inheres  in  spiritual  being  as  those  attractions  and  repulsions 
inhere  in  the  constitution  of  force,  and  the  rational  cause  of 


144  THE   CREATOR   IX   ALL   THINGS. 

this  attractiou  in  each  personality  being,  as  we  have  seen, 
permanentlj'  grounded  in  its  rational  elemental  constituents, 
is  just  as  certain  and  positive,  in  its  efficiency  and  in  its 
results,  as  the  workings  and  results  of  the  laws  of  force. 

The  p"oof  of  the  attraction  is  in  the  personal  consciousness, 
and  needs  no  other  testimony. 

The  word  unutterahle,  if  used  in  regard  to  this,  may  be 
taken  in  tlie  sense  of  not  needing  words  or  expression.  Not 
as  being  inexpressible  in  words,  but  as  being  better  and  more 
naturally  expressed  in  its  own  unspoken  and  silent  commu- 
nication. 

3.  This  reeeptiveness  of  that  which  is  unuttered,  will  be 
chiefly,  we  may  suppose,  through  the  spiritual  body,  in  the 
same  manner  as  now  by  the  senses,  and  by  personal  contact. 

In  this  manner  we  may  understand  why  it  is  that  merely 
to  be  in  His  presence  is  to  have  constantly  "■the  fullness  of 
joy.'''' 

4.  In  a  still  deeper  search  in  the  elements  of  spiritual 
being,  in  reference  to  the  source  of  the  joy  of  that  presence, 
there  would  be  found,  (1)  the  vision  of  being  itself — the 
realized  perception  of  that  'v^hich  now  is  invisible— and  (2) 
the  realized  perception  in  the  consciousness  (which  we  have 
in  a  small  measure  already),  that  it  is  more  blessed  to  give 
than  to  receive, — for  while  the  joy  to  created  beings  must 
always  be  largely  through  their  reeeptiveness,  it  is  also  one 
of  the  gifts  from  being  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature,  that 
their  joy  also,  like  His,  shall  come  in  giving — the  out-go  of 
sympathy,  love,  kindness,  self-sacrifice  for  others, — and  as 
Christ  gave  Himself  for  others,  so  His  disciples  will  find  a 
joy  in  the  outjlow  of  their  being  (their  thought,  their  energies, 
their  lives,)  toward  others. 

When  this  is  readied  (making  it  practicable  for  any  one 
who  can  give  to  be  happy),  forgiveness,  which  at  first  seemed 
so  hard — so  utterly  impossible, — is  seen  as  only  one  of  the 
first  lessons,  the  mere  beginning  of  a  Christian  experience. 

We  close  the  present  topic  with  a  statement  covering  all 
the  ground  as  now  seen — to  wit,  that  the  whole — the  toLal — 


SPIRITUAL,   rilESKKCE.  145 

of  all  our  most  joyful  spiritual  activities,  is  linked  with,  and 
often  is  wholly  included  in,  the  outgoing  and  incoming 
potencies  which  we  have  mentioned  (income  and  outgo),  and 
in  the  latter  is  the  pure  joy  of  worship— giving  of  thanks — 
embracing  the  highest  ranges  of  emotional  exaltation — the 
response  of  the  soul  to  its  Maker  and  Redeemer. 

In  the  next  chapter  we  return  again  to  the  time  and  space 
relations — in  which  we  all  make  our  beginning, — and  the 
time  and  space  experience — through  which  only,  and  in  and 
with  the  Redeemer  of  the  world,  we  may  attain  to  the  joys 
of  self-sacrifice,  and  the  worthiness,  and  righteousness,  and 
purity,  and  glory,  of  the  children  of  God. 


CHAPTER  III. 

FORMS  OF  TRUTH.     GOD'S  METHODS  OF  PLACING  AND  PRE- 
SENTING.     ENDOWMENT     NEEDED    FOR    RECEIV- 
ING,    INTERPRETING     AND      PROVING     IN 
EXPERIENCE.       LIFE   AND   DEATH. 

I.  The  Forms  of  Truth.  From  our  present  stand-point 
there  are  two  forms  of  truth,  the  personal  and  the  im- 
personal. 

The  personal  is  the  Word  of  God,  and  is  expansive  in  a 
continual  enlargement. 

The  impersonal  is  that  which  is  not  expansive,  but  limited 
to  one  expression  and  one  content  in  the  cosmos,  and  is  that 
which  we  see  and  hear,  and  reach  by  the  senses,  and  the 
laws  of  which  are  found  and  interpreted  by  the  same  faculties 
as  those  applied  to  that  which  is  personal.  One  is  sensible, 
elemental  and  natural — the  other,  not  opposed,  but  super- 
sensible and  supernatural. 

The  endowment,  in  its  faculties,  is  receptive  of  the  truth, 
in  each  of  these  symbolic  methods  of  placing  and  presenting 
it,  but  so  only  by  a  finding  and  realizing  of  it  {i.  e.,  the  truth) 
in  an  experience,  or  time  process. 

It  is  required  for  this,  that  the  endowment,  as  a  spiritual 
factor,  shall  have  the  properties  of  spiritual  being  as  follows : 

First,  a  readiness  to  adjust,  apply,  and  concentrate  itself 
along  the  line  of  any  thought-process  in  which  truth  may  be 
presented,  and  in  whatever  form  placed, — a  readiness  to 
search,  and  a  capacity  to  find  and  recognize  the  hitherto 
unknown  results, — a  readiness  to  expand  in  the  emotional 
(UG) 


THE   FORMS  OF   TRUTH.  147 

uprisings  of  its  own  uncontrollable  deserts,  and  to  sit  in 
judgment  on  its  own  action  or  desire  —  though  it  be  to- 
condemn  itself,  and  take  to  itself  unutterable  shame  for  its 
wrong-doing  ;  and  in  all  these  particulars,  its  ready,  pliable, 
flexible  action  is  not  to  be  in  or  because  of  weakness,  but  in 
and  bee  luse  of  strength. 

Second,  an  intuitive  quickness — not  a  slow-moving  activity, 
gradually  increasing  its  celerity  of  movement  by  practice, — 
but,  from  the  first,  quick,  instant — needing  no  time  interval 
except  where  time  is  registered,  and  where  the  Creating 
Spirit  has  placed  in  permanent  form  the  elementary  lessons 
needed  for  a  practical  use  and  development  of  the  powers 
given, — finding  its  greatest  difficulty,  at  first,  not  in  the 
necessary  quickness,  but  in  the  necessary  slowness,  of  the 
thought-process. 

Third,  a  fitness  (which  if  not  given  in  the  first  must  be 
given  in  a  second  endowment)  for  communion  and  reciprocal 
fellowship  with  others  of  its  own  order,  and  standing,  and 
experience,  and  with  the  Creator  and  Father  of  spirits,  in 
His  own  kingdom  and  glory. 

Fourth,  a  receptiveness  not  limited  to  the  immediate 
action  of  spirit  with  spirit,  as  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
in  and  upon  the  human  spirit,  nor  by  the  mutual  action  of 
the  created  spirits  of  its  own  order,  but  a  receptiveness 
capable  of  being  acted  upon  with  great  power,  by  agencies 
wholly  non-spiritual  and  impersonal,  and  altogether  in- 
capable, in  themselves,  of  thought,  or  emotion,  or  any 
spiritual  activity  whatever. 

This  last  peculiarity — in  some  respects  the  most  astonishing 
of  all— makes  the  v/hole  created  Universe  contributory  to  the 
education,  training  and  enjoyment  of  the  uncounted  multi- 
tudes who  come  and  go. 

Fifth,  a  potency  the  measure  of  which  is  only  limited  by 
the  reasonableness  of  the  work  to  which  it  is  directed. 
{Hickok.)  Applied  (in  this  life)  to  Christian  work  and  to 
prayer,  whatever  is  reasonable  will  always  be  granted.  In 
the  life  to  come — the  reasonableness  being  (ully  seen,  and 


148  THE  CREATOR  IN  ALL  THINGS. 

not  imperfectly  as  at  present,  all  work  will  be  immediately 
effective  and  perfect. 

On  these  premises  we  get  some  approximate  interpretation 
of  the  terms  "  unspeakable,"  "  unutterable,"  and  "  the  weight 
of  glory,"  as  applied  to  Christian  experience,  and  especially 
in  the  life  to  come. 

Lastly,  it  is  hardly  necessary  to  say  that  the  forms  of 
truth,  however  manifold  and  many-sided,  cannot  contradict 
each  other,  but  must  agree  and  be  in  unity,  world  without 
end. 

We  have,  therefore,  truth  as  it  is  in  the  outward  forms  of 
created  things— their  operations,  and  statements,  and  laws, 
and  interactions, — and  we  have  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus, 
in  His  Word  and  in  His  presence  in  the  hearts  of  His 
people, — and  there  is  found  in  them  all  a  fellowship  and 
unity  that  is  everywhere  unbroken  and  complete. 

II.  God''s  Methods  in  Presenting  Truth.  The  action  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  upon  the  human  soul. 

1.  As  so  often  stated,  it  is  that  of  Spirit  upon  spirit,  and 
within,  and  according  to  the  laws  placed  in  our  mental  con- 
struction. Whatever  methods  He  may  use — and  they  will 
be  many  and  varied — His  action  in  all  such  methods  must  be 
strictly  in  accordance  with  those  laws. 

Any  other  action  of  the  Creator  (and  He  may  act  in  many 
other  ways)  will  not  in  any  manner  affect  man,  because  it 
will  not  reach  him,  and  so  cannot  touch  him  directly  or 
indirectly.  A  clear  conception  of  this  will  show  the  common 
ground  on  which  man  meets  with  his  Creator,  and  do  away 
with  the  idea  of  anything  mystical,  and  vague,  and  in- 
definite. 

On  the  contrary,  all  intuitions  are  clear,  sharp,  undeniable 
and  definite, — and  they  are,  we  believe,  the  best  expressions 
we  have  of  the  action  of  the  Spirit  of  God  within  and  upon 
the  soul  of  man. 

2.  These  structural  laws  of  our  being,  within  and  through 
which  the  Holy  Spirit  works  upon  us,  being  receptive  and 
emotional,  aud  adapted  specially  to  the  truth,  in  whatever 


god's   methods    IX    PIlESENXIXf;    TRUTH.  1-19- 

form  it  presents  itself,  and  the  Word  of  God  being  the  main 
instrument  by  which  His  truth  is  presented  to  the  human 
soul  by  the  Spirit,  then,  when  He  so  presents  it  that  it  has 
to  the  soul  the  clearness  and  defiuiteness  of  that  which  is 
intuitive,  it  accomplishes  its  purpose  and  reaches  its  end.  It 
may  be  resisted,  but  cannot  be  denied. 

This  is  the  Spirit's  method  in  i:  ducing  conviction  of  sin 
and  repentance,  and  in  creating  faith,  and  in  giving  joy  and 
peace  to  the  soul, — and  in  all  these  influences  and  results, 
the  action  is  not  extraordinary,  but  according  to  what  we 
may  term  the  common  laws  of  mind,  and  in  the  same  way  in 
which  any  truth  of  science  is  presented  and  received, 

3.  But  all  truths  are  not  alike  in  their  power  of  influencing 
human  conduct,  and  so  the  truth  as  it  is  in  Jesus  is  that 
especially  which  the  Holy  Ghost  presents  and  interprets 
where  the  "Word  is  read  or  preached,  and  there  is  then  added 
to  the  power  of  the  truth — 

4.  The  power  of  the  SpirWs  presence.  This  is  not  contrary 
to,  but  fully  in  accordance  with  that  fact  of  spiritual  potency 
which  inheres  in  all  spiritual  beings,  and  by  which,  even 
without  speech,  they  act  consciously  upon  each  other. 

We  feel  it  among  ourselves  in  our  daily  life.  Much 
greater,  therefore,  but  not  at  all  strange,  is  the  powerful 
action  of  the  Holy  Spirit  in  large  asseuiblies,  where  the  truth 
concerning  Christ  is  presented  faithfully  to  the  people. 

5.  We  have  instanced— to  illustrate  one  of  the  methods  of 
the  Spirit's  action — which  we  here  repeat— the  power  of  the 
lens,  as  applied— not  contrary  to,  but  exactly  according  to, 
the  laws  of  vision, — in  separating,  enhuging,  and  bringing 
into  outline,  things  otherwise  misty  or  even  invisible,  and 
in  bringing  nearer  objects  far  away  in  the  depths  of  space— 
adding  nothing,  and  changing  nothing,  and  touching  nothing — 
but  bringing  out  the  facts  very  clearly  and  precisely,  in  all 
their  exactnes-s  and  reality. 

Now  the  faculties  of  the  human  mind  are  capable  of  just 
such  clearer  perception,  and  just  such  greater  expansion  of 
power,  when  acted  upon  by  any  agency  of  a  like  kind  with 


150  TlIK   CREATOK   IX    ALL    TlIlMGs. 

itself  (competent  thereto) — i.  e.,  spiritual  being — and  such, 
pre-eminently,  is  the  Holy  Ghost,  "the  Author  and  Giver  of 
life." 

6.  We  may  readily  suppose  that  the  power  of  the  presence 
of  the  Creating  Spirit  might  be  so  great  as  to  destroy  the 
consciousness,  or  even  break  the  tie  that  binds  the  soul  and 
spirit  to  its  body  of  flesh  and  blool ;  but  even  this  would  not 
be  contrary  to,  but  precisely  according  to,  the  laws  of 
spiritual  being.  When  Saul  of  Tarsus  fell  to  the  ground,  the 
power  of  God  was  acting  upon  him  according  to  these  laws. 
His  sight  w  as  destroyed,  and  his  bodily  action  so  interrupted 
that  he  could  neither  eat  nor  drink  for  the  space  of  three 
days.  In  this  condition,  being  immediately  a  changed  man, 
wonderful  truths  were  seen  by  him  as  never  before,  because 
never  so  presented  as  now  by  the  Holy  Ghost. 

7.  lu  spiritual  baptism,  it  is  this  same  power  of  the 
Spirit  (mine  often  connected  with  some  (exposition  or  use  of 
God's  Word)  that  is  received,  and  however  great  may  be 
this  power  on  the  soul,  it  is  never  felt  to  be  contrary  to  its 
own  structural  emotional  capacity— not  something  alien,  or 
strange,  or  even  new,  but  greater  in  power,  and  clearness, 
and  fullness.  , 

We  must  not  forget  that  the  Spirit  also  comes  at  times  to 
the  soul  in  our  sleeping  moments,  and  that  there  is  often  a 
true  and  high  communion — earnest  prayer,  and  very  clear 
presentation  of  spiritual  truth, — and  we  can  understand  why 
this  should  be,  from  the  fact  that  the  senses  are  no  longer 
busy  with  outward  things,  and  the  faculties  are  shut  in,  with 
only  themselves  and  any  visitor  who  may  choose  to  come. 

So  the  opportunity  also  presents  itself,  in  sleep,  of  enforcing 
some  truth  in  what  we  may  call — 

8.  The  SpirWs  parables.  It  cannot  be  doubted  that  the 
Spirit  at  times  takes  possession  of  the  mind,  in  sleep,  to 
present  vivid  and  powerful  pictures  —  often  as  warnings 
against  besetting  sins,  the  danger  and  character  of  which  He 
can  best  indicate  in  that  way.  They  may  be  taken  as  evidence, 
commonly,  that  the  ordinary  force  of  truth  in  that  particular 


GODS   METHODS   IN    I'KESKNTING    TRUTH.  151 

ia  which  convictiou  is  needed,  has  lost  its  power  and  needs  a 
different  setting. 

9.  If  now  we  look  closely  for  those  iudications  which  point 
out  and  determine  tlie  range  of  the  action  of  the  Holy  Spirit 
upon  created  rationalities,  there  are  the  following,  to  wit : 
(1)  the  rani-e  will  be  strictly  within  the  lines  of  what  He 
sees  to  be  best  for  them ;  (2)  it  will  be  strictly  within,  and 
according  to,  the  laws  of  their  mental  structure,  and  (3) 
strictly  in  accordance  with  the  truth  as  revealed  in  God's 
Word. 

This  range  does  not  call  for,  or  permit,  any  tiling  mystical 
(which,  instead  of  helping,  would  only  hinder),  or  anything 
unnatural  (which,  being  outside  its  sphere,  would  be  without 
meaning  or  pertinence),  or  connect  itself  with  any  bodily 
action,  and  so  convey  it  through  media,  (which  would 
identify  it  with  the  force  element  and  sense  impression). 
These  are  not  the  ways  of  the  Spirit,  whose  action  upon  the 
soul  is  always,  we  repeat,  Spirit  upon  spirit,  "face  to  face," 
(Hickok),  through  no  other  instrument  than  the  Word.  He 
Himself  comes.  He  Himself  interprets  the  Word ;  and  He 
comes  as  the  gift  of  the  Father  and  the  Son.  ' '  Your  Heavenly 
Father  will  give  the  Holy  Spirit  to  them  that  ask  Him." 

10.  As  the  sanctifying  agency  is  declared  to  be  truth 
("sanctify  them  by  Thy  truth''),  so  also  the  truth  is  declared 
to  be  God's  Word  ("  Thy  Word  is  truth  "). 

11.  It  is  also  written, "  He  " — the  Holy  Spirit — ''shall  guide 
you  into  all  the  truth.''''  There  is  no  intimation  that  He  will 
add  to  it,  and  there  is  no  occasion  to  add — for  He  is  to  guide 
into  all  the  truth,  and  that  truth  has  been  declared  to  be 
God's  Word,  and  that  Book  of  the  Word  is  closed  and 
sealed. 

12.  There  remains  only  the  truth  as  it  is  presented  in  the 
outward  forms  of  the  cosmos.  The  Holy  Spirit  may  un- 
questionably stimulate  the  faculties  in  the  investigation  of 
all  facts,  laws  and  truths  found  in  nature — but  here,  also.  His 
province  is  plainly  not  to  add,  or  place  anywhere,  a  new 
truth,  but  to  reveal  what  is  there  already. 


152  THE   CKEATOR   IN    ALL   TlilXGS. 

Precisely  so  in  the  memorial  of  the  Lord's  death,  the  Spirit 
adds  nothing  and  changes  nothing, — for  to  add  would  be  to 
suppose  that  the  Saviour  had  omitted  something  in  the  words 
He  used,  when  He  told  them  for  what  purpose  they  were  to 
break  and  eat  the  bread,  and  drink  the  wine — and  to  change 
the  elements  would  be  also  to  suppose  that  this  also  was  some- 
thing the  Saviour  had  omitted  to  mention.  If  we  hold  fast 
the  evident  truth,  that  God's  purpose  in  all  that  He  does  is 
to  reveal,  not  hide,  the  truth,  we  shall  not  be  looking  for  a 
mystery,  but  a  revelation,  always,  in  all  He  commands  us  to 
do.  For  the  truth — we  repeat,  again  and  again — is  not 
mystical— does  not  cover  and  conceal,  but  uncovers  and 
brings  to  the  light. 

It  was  Christ's  habitual  method  to  illustrate  important 
truths  by  a  reference  to  every-day  matters,  in  which  His 
disciples  would  not  and  could  not  become  mystified,  and  the 
selection  of  the  elements  of  bread  and  wine,  was  in  the  same 
line  of  things,  as  fully  and  equally  intelligible  as  the  parables 
of  the  vine,  the  sower,  the  tares,  the  sheep  and  the  goats, — 
all  taken  from  common  life. 

Now,  a  teaching  which  makes  that  cloudy  which  before 
was  clear — that  opaque  which  in  itself  was  transparent — and 
that  absurd  which  in  its  common-sense  meaning  is  plainly 
intelligible  and  rational — a  teaching  which,  even  if  true, 
would  add  nothing  to  its  practical  value,  but  greatly  detract 
from  it,— should  have  not  a  moment's  claim  to  our  regard, 
and  still  less  to  our  belief. 

Besides  all  this,  Christ  said  to  His  disciples:  '^ It  ia  given 
unto  yoK,  to  know  the  mysteries  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven." 
Now,  that  which  is  known  is  no  longer  a  mystery.  If,  there- 
fore, to  Christians,  any  doctrine  is  still  set  forth  as  a  mystery 
not  yet  revealed  or  known,  and  a  belief  and  practice  in 
reference  to  it  is  enjoined  and  enforced,  and  made  a  test  of 
church-membership,  and  set  forth  as  conditional  to  salvation, 
it  cannot  be  the  doctrine  of  Christ. 

The  world — and  our  life  in  it — is  full  of  mysteries — and 
what  is  written  we  accept  and  hold, — but  all  that  concerns 


EXPERIENCE.  157 

(or  become)  permauent.  If  righteous,  permanently  so, — if 
holy,  permanently  so, — if  loving,  permanently  so,— if  pure, 
permanently  so, — and  if  emotionally  blessed  in  these  charac- 
teristics, permanently  and  unchangeably  so,— or  it  will  not 
be  fitted  for  an  eternal  duration. 

We  shall  further  see  that  this  permanence  can  only  be 
secured  by  tliat  participation  of  the  individual  will  in  the 
formation  of  this  Christian  character  in  a  Christian  ex- 
perience, and  in  these  space  and  time  relations,  and  in  these 
flesh  and  blood  bodies  in  which  we  have  our  beginning. 

3.  In  using  the  formulas,  we  must  take  all  the  facts  and 
particulars  of  the  plan. 

We  are  not  to  forget  that  the  Creator,  in  giving  us  the 
endowment,  did  not  stop  with  that,  but  associated  Himself 
with  it  in  the  person  ul  our  Lord,  and  so  gave  us,  in  Him, 
the  power  to  become  partakers  of  the  Divine  nature, — and 
further,  that  He  sent  the  Holy  Ghost  to  guide  into  all  the 
truth,  and  to  go  along  the  journey  with  us,  day  and  night, 
as  long  as  we  remain  here  in  the  body, — and  still  further, 
that  He  has  given  us  the  written  record  of  His  will,  and  the 
facts  of  our  creation  and  redemption,  and  the  world's 
creation,  and  appointed  a  ministry  for  the  proclamation  and 
teaching  of  this  record  and  these  facts, — and  now  it  is  in  and 
through  a  practical  spiritual  experience  {i.  e.,  a  proving  by 
trial)  of  these  truths, — not  alone  but  in  company  with  the 
Son  of  God  and  with  the  power  of  the  Spirit, — that  we  may 
enter  into  fellowship  with  God,  and  begin  immediately  the 
purposes  of  our  creation. 

We  must  clearly  understand  that  all  we  are  to  be — all  that 
we  attain — is  to  be  by  the  use  of  the  powers  given  in  the 
endowment.  These  powers  must  be  put  at  work,  and  kept 
at  work,  and  within  their  own  limits.  There  must  be  no 
looking  for  anything  outside  of,  or  contrary  to,  or  different 
from,  the  laws  of  rational  being, — but  we  are  not  to  forget 
that  rational  being  is  itself  supernatural,  and  open  to  the 
action  of  that  which  is  supernatural,  and  therefore,  in  a 
Christian  experience,  the  action  of  the  Spirit,  in  guiding. 


158  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

teaching,  cleansing,  will  not  be  outside  of,  but  within  and 
upon  the  mental  structure  (which  He  Himself  created),  and 
strictly  according  to  its  laws. 

Prayer,  if  it  spring  from  a  real  need,  is  never  inefficient — 
even  though  it  be  for  that  which  God  cannot  always  give  in 
the  way  that  is  desired.  Our  ignorance  of  His  methods 
and  plans  does  not  hinder  His  receiving  every  petition  we 
make,  but  it  will  explain  many  things  which  seem  strange  to 
us  in  the  manner  or  in  the  apparent  silence  in  which  the 
answer  comes. 

There  is  also  very  much  that  we  may  properly  ask  for  now, 
which  will  be  seen  in  eternity  (but  not  before)  to  have  been 
accepted,  and  entered  as  working  factors  in  God's  great 
administration.  We  may  believe  this,  and  should  believe 
this,  absolutely  and  without  qualification. 

Our  experience  is  not  to  end  with  our  time-life,  but  as 
Christian  character  is  formed  only  by  the  use  of  the  endow- 
ment in  a  state  of  trial,  so  it  becomes  personal  to  each  one 
(as  Christian  character),  only  in  a  time -process,  and  is 
perfected  in  a  time-duration.  This  perfecting  cannot  be 
completed  until  all  the  faculties  and  capacities  have  been 
brought  into  a  practical  working  with  the  realities  of  life,  in 
all  the  particulars  which  form  character. 

This  will  be,  in  its  apparent  movement,  not  uniform,  but 
varied,  and  the  matters  hardest  to  bear  and  endure  will  be 
the  most  rapid  in  showing  results. 

Worship,  from  its  assimilating  power— to  wit,  prayer  and 
the  joyful  service  of  song  and  thanksgiving — is  a  formative 
factor  of  great  value — but  not  so  great  as  suffering  and  cross- 
bearing  for  Christ's  truth — the  truth  as  it  is  in  Him. 

All  active  work,  therefore,  for  others,  especially  where  it 
comes  down  to  self-sacrifice,  forms  the  Christian  character 
most  rapidly. 

Worship,  as  in  a  daily  service  of  prayer  and  praise,  is 
especially  adapted  to  the  young,  and  to  securing  and  con- 
firming the  first  elements  of  a  Christian  education  in  a  joyful 
fellowship  with  our  Father  — but  the  fellowship  v.hich  is 


LIFK   AND   DEATH.  159 

more  distinctly  Cliristian,  is  the  fellowship  of  suffering,  and 
comes,  usually,  as  the  last  and  the  finishing  work  in  Christian 
experience. 

3.  On  this  higher  line  of  Christian  experience,  the  Chris- 
tian attains  something  at  last  even  better  than  faith — to  wit, 
a  knowledge  of  God  and  of  Christ. 

Faith  precedes,  but  in  advancing,  becomes  a  knowing 
{Olshausen),  and  there  is  then  "i/ie  unity  of  the  faith  and  of 
the  knowledge  of  the  Son  of  God."    (Ephesians  iv.  13.) 

And  lastly,  in  this  knowledge  is  eternal  life.  "This  is 
eternal  life,  to  know  Thee,  the  true  God,  and  Jesus  Christ 
whom  Thou  hast  sent."  So  w^e  become  acquainted  with  the 
Father,  and  with  His  Son,  and  know  them,  and  are  received 
into  the  glorious  liberty  of  the  children  of  God. 

IV.  Life  and  Death.  Life  (C"'/)  is,  first  of  all  that  element 
which  continues  existence — gives  continuity  to  being.  It  is 
always  from  God.  In  rational  being,  it  is  never  said  in  Scrip- 
ture that  it  is  ever  to  cease — never  mentioned  (at  least  not 
in  the  New  Testament)  as  ceasing,  or  coming  to  an  end ;  and 
tliere  is  no  hint  or  suggestion  pointing  in  that  direction. 
The  plan  of  being  is  not  a  plan  of  beginning  and  stopping — 
for  why  then  begin  ? — but  of  beginning  and  proceeding. 

That  which  is  said  to  die  is  the  bodily  organism,  and  that 
which  is  said  to  be  laid  down  for  others,  and  which  Christ 
said  He  had  power  to  lay  down  and  to  take  again,  was  not  iu 
any  New  Testament  statement  v  C"'?,  life,  in  its  proper  sense, 
but  the  soul  [ft^x^i).  Rational  being  consists  of  body,  soul 
and  spirit.  Of  these  the  body  may  cease  its  life-action,  and 
the  soul  may  then  be  laid  down,  or  be  severed  from  tho 
spirit,  and  this  is  death  {Hickok),  but  the  life  is  not  laiil 
down  or  disconnected,  and  could  not  be  for  a  moment,  for 
ihat  would  be  cessaticn  of  being. 

The  spirit  returns  to  God  who  gave  it.  It  does  not  die, 
therefore. 

The  word  V^'X'J  {soid)  is  rendered  life  iu  a  fev.'  passages, 
and  is  so  retained  in  the  revision.  The  following  are 
instances  of  this  rendering:  "Take  no  thought  for  }our 


160  THE   CREATOR   IX   ALL   THINGS. 

life;"  "He  that  findeth  his  life  shall  lose  it;"  "The  Son  of 

man  came to  give  His  life  a  ransom  for  many;"  "  I  lay 

down  my  life  for  the  sheep;"  "He  that  loveth  his  life  shall 
lose  it."  This  rendering  is  probably  on  the  ground  that  the 
soul,  being  an  integral  and  important  part  of  rational  being, 
is  also  "living  soul" — and  as  the  life  of  the  soul  constitutes 
and  continues  it  in  being,  so  the  laying  down,  or  losing,  or 
giving  the  soul,  is  a  laying  down,  or  losing,  or  giving  the 
life. 

The  life  is  the  Divine  element  in  body,  soul  and  spirit— all 
of  which  together  make  up  rational  being, — and  when  the 
body  is  destroyed,  its  life  goes  with  it,  and  when  the  soul  is 
offered  up,  its  life  is  offered  up ;  but  we  do  not  read  any- 
where that  the  life  (C''"/),  or  the  spirit  {Tvvtvfia),  is  laid  down, 
or  offered  up,  or  lost.  To  lose  the  life  (C''''/)  would  be  the 
death  of  extinction,  but  to  lose  the  soul  (V't'X'/),  although  a 
death,  is  not  that  death  which  is  extinction  of  being.  The 
loss  is  the  loss  of  the  life  element  which  gives  it  a  rational 
satisfaction  in  the  use  of  its  faculties.  For  life  is  not  simply 
existence,  as  that  of  a  tree  or  plant,  the  antithesis  of  which, 
as  death,  is  cessation  of  being.  The  life  element,  in  a 
rational  being,  pervades  and  constitutes  the  basis  of  the 
whole  endowment.  It  is  not  mere  existence,  but  existence, 
j)lus  all  the  powers  and  capacities  of  a  rationality, — and 
death,  as  used  in  the  Scriptures,  is  not  the  mere  negative  or 
antithesis  of  simple  existence — continuity  of  being — but  it  is 
the  antithesis  of  those  properties — those  living  properties, 
and  especially  of  those  rational  compensations  which  belong 
to  pure  rationalities.  But  an  antithesis,  it  is  important  to 
notice,  is  not  necessarily  a  full  negative  of  that  against 
which  it  stands.  Life  is  progressive,  and  death  may  be 
understood  as  a  retrograde  movement,  but  not,  in  any  case, 
as  retrograding  into  a  cessation  of  being. 

In  addition  to  these  distinctions,  there  is  a  still  more 
important  fact  pointed  out  in  Scripture,  that  in  the  plan  of 
rational  being  life  and  death  are  set  forth  as  the  compen- 
sations— the  legitimate,  inseparable  resulLs  of  the  activities 


EXPEKIKNCK.  153 

US,  practically,  is  that  which,  having  been  revealed,  can  be 
seen  as  truth  by  a  rational  insight,  ov  be  made  known  in  an 
experience. 

For  a  mystery,  as  such — i.  e.,  unrevealed — cannot  help  us— 
cannot  make  us  wiser  or  better.  The  niost  intense  thought, 
the  most  profound  meditation  upon  it,  finds  nothing,  reaches 
nothing,  and  tees  nothing.  It  is  like  looking  into  the  dark, 
which  can  only  start  suggestions  certain  to  be  false  and 
mischievous. 

Accordingly,  the  forced  interpretations,  which  at  last  are 
supposed  to  belong  to  them,  evidently  partake  of  the  darkness 
rather  than  the  light.  They  have  more  of  midnight  than 
daylight  in  them. 

On  the  contrary,  truth — in  the  New  Testament  use — is  not 
merely  the  reality  of  that  to  which  it  relates,  but  it  is  the 
revealed  reality,  and  this  it  is  which  makes  the  Word  of  God 
a  revelation. 

As  the  Holy  .Spirit  is  the  Spirit  of  Truth,  and  as  His  office 
is  to  reveal  and  make  the  truth  intelligible  to  the  mind  and 
soul,  any  teaching  which  virtually  sets  forth  that  His  work 
is  also  at  times  to  obscure  and  mystify,  is,  of  course,  a  false 
teaching  on  the  face  of  it,  and  the  results  of  such  teaching 
in  any  chur.ch,  must  be  a  distortion  so  great  that  the  truth 
in  its  purity  will  be  lost — and  in  that  loss  will  be  a  loss  of  all 
true  joy  and  i)eace.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  in  those  who  accept 
such  teachings  there  is  never  found  a  true  and  settled  peace. 
They  seem  never  able  to  come  into  the  liberty  of  the  children 
of  God. 

"A  disproportioned  shading  of  a  single  doctrine,  will  surely 
attract  some  mind  whose  way  to  heaven  it  will  darken.*' 
(Austin  Phelps. ) 

III.  Experience.  This,  of  course,  could  not  be  given  in 
the  endowment,  for  it  forms  the  greatest  specialty  in  our 
plan  of  being,  that  it  should  begin  its  career  without  a 
precedent,  or  even  a  hint  of  that  which  is  coming.  All  is  to 
be  strange,  new,  and  uiterly  meaningless,  until  read  and 
interpreted. 


154  THE   CREATOR    IN   ALL    THINGS. 

But  a  basis  or  ground-w^ork  for  experience  may  be  pre- 
pared, and  that  is  precisely  what  is  provided. 

We  take  up  the  subject  now,  after  having  examined  some 
of  the  prominent  facts  in  a  Christian  experience,  to  formulate 
more  fully  than  we  have  yet  done  the  law  which  limits  and 
prescribes  the  mental  structure,  from  this  fact,  so  often 
mentioned,  that  the  endowment  begins  with  nothing  in 
hand  but  the  capacity  to  act  and  be  initiated  in  the  on- 
goings and  proceedings  of  rational  beings  in  what  we  call 
experience. 

In  mental  science,  "experience  is  the  trial  of  any  faculty 
by  its  use" — [HickoJc)— hut  in  the  use  of  such  faculties  it  is  a 
proving  hij  trial  of  what  is  found,  and  so  becomes  a  finding 
and  realizing  of  truth.    Seek  and  ye  shall  find. 

We  give  the  formula : 

1.  When  the  endowment  has  received  the  elements  by  the  use 
of  which  all  that  is  pur-posed  can  be  attained^  it  is  complete. 

2.  Nothing,  therefore,  can  be  given  in  the  endowment  as 
faculty,  which  can  be  found  by  the  use  of  faculties  already 
given. 

3.  Tlint  lohich  is  found  will  be  (i.e., become)  })ersonal,  and 
coxdd  be  so  in  no  other  way. 

4.  The  personality ,  therefore,  {^as  here  defined)  is  not  given  in 
the  endowment,  but  is  the  result  of  each  one'^s  individual, 
rational  activity,  with  the  endowment. 

5.  All  things  which  can  be  attained — found — reached — by  a 
rational  activity,  are,  properly,  an  experience,  and  must  not  be 
looked  for  in  the  endovmient. 

From  these  structural  laws  in  the  plan  of  our  being,  if  we 
now  consider  that  God,  having  so  formed  this  plan,  will 
Himself  act  upon  us  and  with  us,  according  to  these  laws, 
and  not  in  any  mystical  way,  and  by  other  and  unknown 
laws,  then  the  proceedings  will  be  as  follows : 

1.  The  powers  given  in  the  endowment  having  their  lines 
and  limits  of  action  built  in  in  their  structure,  all  items  and 
particulars  of  knowledge  will  be  a  positive  finding,  by  their 
use— and  the  principles  and  rules  governing  each  faculty 


EXPERIENCE.  loo 

being  direct  from  the  Creator,  all  such  finding  will  be  true 
and  valid. 

2.  The  emotional;  although  not  a  finding,  will  appear 
through  its  structural  interlocked  connections — but  as  no 
searching  will  find  it,  and  no  calling  will  bring  it,  and  no 
threats  will  prevent  it,  it  will  be  its  own  witness  when  it 
appears,  and  will  need  no  testimony  from  any  oiher  quarter 
as  to  its  reality  and  validity. 

Now,  with  these  powers,  and  amid  surroimdings  expressly 
prepared  for  it,  the  endowment  will  begin  its  activity  and 
advance  into  its  experience. 

In  this  exact  arrangement,  the  place  and  limit  of  prayer 
(to  be  effective)  is  seen  at  once  to  be  exclusively, for  that 
which  the  endowment,  by  its  lational  activity,  cannot  reach 
or  find.  It  may  then  reasonably  call  uf>on  God  to  do  what 
the  powers  given  cannot  accomplish — i.e.,  if  the  object  desired 
is  a  reasonable  one. 

But  any  call  upon  God  to  do  what  the  endowment  can  do, 
and  the  benefit  of  which  can  come  to  it  in  no  other  way  than 
by  its  doing  it,  v.ill,  of  course,  be  utterly  useless,  for  two 
reasons — first,  that  God  cannot  do  it,  and  second,  that  the 
entire  value  and  substance  of  the  t  bject  sought  are  in  its 
being  personally  entered  upon  and  wrought  out  by  the  party 
concerned. 

A  sick  man  might  as  well  ask  his  physician  to  take  his 
medicine  for  him.    A  vast  deal  of  prayer  is  of  that  sort. 

We  must  not  so  state  this  as  to  imply  that  the  Creator  is 
offended  with  the  constant  and  persistent  reference  to  Him 
of  our  diflieulties  and  perplexities— for  this  He  invites  and 
commands  —  but  in  discussing  experience,  we  are  simply 
keeping  to  the  facts,  and  the  one  fact  here  which  we  are  so 
slow  to  perceive,  is  that  our  experience — our  finding  and 
holding — must  be  ours— not  another's,  nor  the  Creator's,  but 
our  own. 

And  so  we  repeat,  that  prayer,  however  urgent,  and  per- 
sistent, and  long-continued,  where  our  co-operation  is  needed, 
and  is  not  given,  will  be  of  no  avail.    Countless  prayers, 


156  TIIK   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

continued  for  years,  are  worse  than  thrown  away  because  we 
are  not  willing  to  give  up  the  besetting  hindrance,  or  bear 
the  self-denial  or  take  hold  of  the  work  wliich  alone  can 
bring  about  the  desired  result.  This  is  equally  true  in 
regard  to  States,  communities,  churches,  families  and  indi- 
viduals. 

AVe  think  the  formulas  here  given  may  (with  care)  be 
safely  used  in  testing  any  matter  of  our  daily  experience,  or 
of  Christian  doctrine. 

Let  us  examine  the  first  thing  we  need  when  wc  come  into 
the  world — 

1.  Language.  This  is  not  given.  If  it  had  been  (as  song 
to  birds),  it  would  have  been  only  a  hindrance,  not  a  help. 
We  begin  (in  written  language)  with  the  hard  work  of  learning 
the  letters,  and  then  the  word,  and  as  we  proceed,  the  fitness 
of  the  thought  to  the  symbol,  after  long  use  and  practice,  is 
seen  and  understood,  or  assumed  as  sufiicient  for  the  purposes 
desired, — and  in  language  so  acquired,  we  have  an  instru- 
ment of  our  own  of  great  power.  It  can  now  change  and  be 
changed,  with  the  increase  and  demands  of  new  thought, 
and  be  a  flexible  symbol  for  such  purposes,  but  if  given  in 
the  endowment,  would  necessarily  be  fixed  and  incapable  of 
change.  It  would  have  lumbered  the  unused  endowment 
with  fixed  channels  for  thought  to  take,  instead  of  leaving 
the  thought  factor  to  find  and  form  its  own  symbols  and  its 
own  connections  and  processes.  It  would  have  left  us  with- 
out any  childhood,  and  have  put  in  its  place  a  phenomenal 
nondescript,  with  the  "fatal  facility"  of  talking  without 
knowing  what  it  is  talking  about — and  of  this  we  have 
enough  already. 

2.  If  the  same  is  true  in  regard  to  Christian  character, 
then  the  whole  line  of  Christian  experience— every  doctrine 
and  precept — must  be  realized,  made  personal,  before  it  has 
its  value  (what  it  carries)  transferred  and  received.  Is  this 
the  case  ?    Is  it  true  ? 

If  we  look  at  the  plan  of  being  in  its  beginning,  we  shall 
see  that  that  which  is  to  be  eternal,  must,  as  to  character,  be 


THE  JUDGMENT.  165 

To  some,  the  thought  of  having  our  hearts  and  meutiil 
processes  all  open  to  another,  is  very  shocking — but,  in 
relation  to  Him  who  created  us,  this  is  the  case  already. 
The  point  is  just  here:  when  the  consciousness  of  sin  is 
absent,  and  the  consciousness  of  purity  and  integrity  is 
present,  there  will  be  no  desire  or  motive  for  concealment. 
Here  we  live  constantly  on  guard, — not  only  against  others, 
but  against  ourselves, — "  fightings  within  and  fears  without." 
But  there— whatever  option  there  may  be  for  personal  retire- 
ment and  seclusion — the  guards,  in  intercourse  with  others, 
will  be  put  aside  forever.  So  far  from  wishing  to  conceal,  it 
will  be  a  special  delight  that  it  has  become  possible,  at  last,. 
to  give  a  full  statement  of  things.  One  of  the  great  dis- 
advantages of  the  present  methods  of  communication  is  the 
inadequacy  of  language  (on  certain  lines)  to  express  thought, 
to  give  anything  more  than  an  outline  form — necessarily 
limited, — hence  so  many  misunderstandings,  and  misconcep- 
tions, and  misinterpretations, — and  to  get  out  of  all  that,  into- 
that  which  will  present  thought  wholly  and  clearly,  will  be 
delightful. 

So  far  from  wishing  to  go  on  as  now — with  a  life  of  half- 
utterances,  and  evasions,  and  concealments,  it  will  be  a  great 
joy  to  be  in  a  company  where  there  is  nothing  hidden  and 
nothing  to  hide. 

As  the  Creator  hides  nothing,  but  reveals  Himself  always, 
to  every  one,  according  to  the  desire  and  capacity  to  receive 
and  wisely  use  what  is  revealed— so  every  pure  rationality 
finds  its  highest  joy  in  sharing  it  with  others, — and  to  say 
that  it  is  open,  and  frank,  and  truthful,  and  trusting,  and 
loving,  and  self-revealing  (not  hiding),  welcoming  (not  re- 
pelling), disclosing  heart,  mind,  soul  to  others  (not  shutting 
itself  up  in  itself) — is  merely  to  say  that  its  very  life  is  in 
these  dispositions,  and  in  that  kind  and  method  of  mani- 
festation. It  is  God's  way,  and  it  is  the  way  of  all  His 
children. 

2..  There  will  also  be  a  call  for  rest  from  conflict. 

(1)  As  God's  work  was  preparatory— wholly  so, — and  as  it 


166  THE   CKKATOK   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

was  an  up-building  from  crude  forces,  to  a  completed  cosmos 
of  order  and  beauty,  so  the  work  of  life  to  the  Christian  has 
been  preparatory — wholly  so, — and  has  been  an  up-building 
in  himself,  from  crude  and  rough  materials,  of  a  self- 
controlled  character  — which,  with  God's  help,  has  been 
lifted  above  the  power  of  temptation,  and  into  a  range  of 
spiritual  activities  so  much  higher,  and  purer,  and  nobler, 
than  anything  that  can  be  offered  from  any  other  quarter, 
that  it  is  saved  from  any  further  peril  from  the  powers  of 
darkness. 

(2)  But  this  conflict  with  evil  has  ceased,  only  because  it 
has  accomplished  its  purpose.  Therefore,  this  rest,  or  ces- 
sation of  conflict,  is  promised  only  to  those  who  get  the 
victory.  It  "remaineth"— not  for  all,  but— "for  the  people 
of  God."    Therefore,— 

(3)  To  those  who  choose  evil,  a  conflict  must  go  on,  as  it  is 
in  the  nature  of  evil  to  be  conflicting,  to  be  destructive,  to 
be  antagonistic,  to  be  suicidal, — and  as  rational  being  is 
to  be  continviously  active,  this  property  will  be  continually 
coming  out  in  the  activity,  and  there  can  be  no  peace  or 
rest. 

(4)  Holiness  is  a  necessity:  for  the  time  comes  when  the 
continuance  of  a  choice  becomes  permanent,  as  an  element  of 
character,  and  if  the  choice  be  evil,  death  will  not  change  it 
for  it  will  only  make  more  plain  to  the  soul  what  was  known 
before,  more  clear  what  was  seen  before,  more  emphatic 
what  was  stated  before,— from  all  which  it  has  resolutely 
turned  av.ay.  Can  we  not  now  understand  why  it  was 
written,  "He  that  is  unjust,  let  him  be  unjust  still,  and  he 
that  is  filthy,  let  him  be  filthy  still,  and  he  that  is  righteous 
let  him  be  righteous  still,  and  he  that  is  holy,  let  him  be  holy 
still  V" 

(5)  If  there  is  no  such  thing  possible  as  permanence  of  char- 
acter, then  life  here,  and  everywhere,  is  all  an  uncertainty,  and 
heaven  itself  gives  no  security  for  it,  and  the  whole  moral 
universe  is  liable  to  go  to  wreck  at  any  moment — for  the 
safety  of  every  one  must  be  iu  the  rational  character,  which. 


THE   FUTURE   STATE.  167 

although  Divinely  created,  must  have  its  own  individual  and 
personal  strength  and  permanence. 

(6)  But  if  there  is  a  permanence  in  a  righteous  character — 
if  it  is  something  that  can  be  attained  in  this  life — if  it  can 
be  counted  on,  the  same  as  the  permanence  of  the  Creator — 
if  this  is  possible,  then  this  permanence  must  be  in  and 
through  some  process  and  law,  which  pervades  the  whole 
make-up  of  the  soul, — it  must  be  structural,  it  must  be  a 
possibility  framed  in,  in  its  constitution,  and  will  be  found 
somewhere  as  a  fixed  law.  This  law  is  the  law  of  increase  by 
growth,  by  whicli  all  the  faculties  come  up  into  strength  and 
permanence,  and  the  whole  being  is  built  up  by  its  own 
choices,  and  its  own  decisions,  approved  and  carried  into 
execution  by  ils  own  will.  This  necessary  law  of  increase  by 
growth  in  spiritual  being  (without  which  there  could  be  no 
rationality),  is  a  law  that  is  fundamental,  and  reaches,  and 
organizes,  and  builds  up  all  the  faculties  and  all  the  dis- 
positions. But  it  belongs  to  all  alike,  and  if  it  has  this 
formative  agency  in  forming  the  permanence  of  a  righteous 
character,  it  has  the  same  formative  agency  in  the  perma- 
nence of  the  unrighteous  character,  and  unless  there  comes 
an  entire  change,  a  conversion — giving  up  the  iselt-will  and 
accepting  God"s  will — the  character  becoms  permanent, 
and  all  that  the  future  can  bring  (so  far  as  we  have  any 
ground  to  expect)  will  only  add  to  its  unchanging  condition. 

We  turn  very  gladly  from  this  to  the  closing  words: 

"I,  Jesus,  have  sent  mine  angel  to  testify  to  you  these 

things  in  the  churches And  the  Spirit  and  the  bride  say, 

Come.    And  let  him  that  heareth  say.  Come.    And  let  him 
that  is  athirst  come.    And  whosoever  will,  let  him  take  the 

water  of  life  freely He  which  testifieth  these  things  saith, 

Surely  I  come  quickly.   Amen.    Even  so,  come,  Lord  Jesus." 

III.  The  Future  State.  The  admission  of  unholy  thought, 
in  an  endowment  of  a  potency  so  great  as  that  which  we 
have  is  a  perilous  proceeding,  and  unless  there  be  somi 
power  of  excluding  unwelcome  intruders,  it  is  not  mere.;)' 
perilous  but  fatal. 


168  THE  CREATOR  IN   ALL  THINGS. 

There  is  so  much  in  our  mental  construction  that  is  fixed — 
subject  to  permanent  law,  and  not  subject  to  the  will, — it 
becomes  an  interesting  question  as  to  what  power  there  will 
be — not  merely  to  prevent  the  action  of  the  memory  in 
recalling  past  sins,  for,  to  the  Christian,  the  act  of  for- 
giveness removes  the  shame  and  changes  everything — but 
what  power  there  may  be  to  repel  and  shut  out  the  incoming 
of  things  hateful,  unholy  and  Satanic,  in  any  future  ex- 
perience, whether  in  this  world  or  in  any  other. 

A  habit  of  self-control,  extending  over  all  the  mental 
activities,  is  of  the  very  greatest  importance,  and  should  be 
persistently  cultivated,  but  the  very  potencies  of  the  powers 
given — the  quickness,  the  subtle,  swift,  unheralded  flashes  of 
strange,  unsought,  undesired  presentations,  from  without 
and  separate  from  us — these,  as  they  now  come  to  us,  are 
more  than  we  can  manage  or  repel,  and  if  they  are  to  follow 
on  into  the  life  to  come,  there  will  be  no  settled  peace,  even 
in  the  kingdom  of  our  God.     , 

There  is  no  solution  of  this  difficulty  other  than  that  which 
is  given  in  the  Word  of  God. 

It  is  not  any  natural  ability  or  canceling  power  in  an 
endowment,  however  perfected  and  purified,  or  even  glorified , 
that  will  meet  the  demand,  but  a  positive  separation  from 
the  evil  itself,  and  its  emissaries  and  agents. 

A  victory  is  not  sufficient,  but  the  disappearance  of  the 
enemy. 

We  are  told,  therefore,  distinctly,  that  there  is  a  great 
gulf  fixed  between  the  righteous  and  the  wicked.  This, 
whether  it  be  interpreted  literally,  as  to  locality,  or  as  the 
repulsion  between  characters  utterly  unlike,  is  fully  intelli- 
gible, and  entirely  in  line  with  what  we  know  of  the  mental 
structure. 

We  accept  it,  we  believe  it,  and  hold  the  positive  state- 
ments as  true  beyond  all  doubt  or  contingency. 

IV.  Tlie  Spiritual  Body.  As  in  the  plan  of  being  we 
found  the  exceeding  potency  of  the  spiritual  elements  would 
demand  a  restriction  within  limits,  and  that  this  restriction 


I.IFK   AND   DKATII.  101 

of  the  endowment,  in  obedience  or  disobedience  lo  the  will  of 
the  Creator. 

We  subjoin  a  few  passages  from  Ilerrman  Cremer's  Lexi- 
con of  Kew  Testament  Greek,  pages  257  and  270  : 

"Death  as  the  punishment  pronounced  by  God  upon  sin, 
has  a  punitive  significance.  It  is,  therefore,  a  very  compre- 
hensive term,  denoting  all  the  punitive  consequences  of  sin. 
The  end  of  human  life,  ■which  is  more  accurately  called 
death,  is  always  that  point  and  portion  of  the  punitive 
sentence  about  which  all  the  other  elements  in  that  sentence 
are  grouped.  This  it  is  which  gives  the  death  of  Christ  its 
significance." 

"  The  essence  of  death  does  not  consist  in  the  extinction  of 
the  man,  but  rather  in  the  fact  of  its  depriving  him  of  what 
he  miglit  have  had  in  and  through  his  life,  and  thus  in  forming 
a  direct  antithesis  to  life,  so  far  as  life  is  a  possession  and  a 
blessing.  The  power  of  sin  shows  itself  in  death.  In  a  word, 
death  is  not  an  isolated  occurrence  or  fact  merely — it  is  also 
a  state,  just  as  life  is  a  state — it  is  the  state  of  man  as  liable 
to  judgment.  The  full  and  final  realization  of  salvation  is 
represented  as  consisting  in  the  removal  of  death,  and 
redemption  consists  in  freedom  from  the  sentence  of  death, 
and  from  the  fear  of  death." 

••  On  the  other  hand,  life  is  not  only  the  opposite  of  death, 
but  a  positive  freedom  from  death.  It  is  possession  in  the 
highest  sense.  It  is  identified  with  Christ,  and  Christ  is 
called  our  life.  As  God's  saving  gift,  it  is  the  antithesis  of 
judgment,  the  wrath  of  God,  destruction — is  the  possession 
and  state  of  tliose  who  receive  the  Gospel,  and  of  the  justi- 
fied— hence  the  'justification  of  life,'  corresponding  with  the 
opposite  connection  of  sin  and  death.  Primarily  and  essen- 
tially it  belongs  to  God  and  Christ — to  God  as  revealing 
Himself  in  redemption  as  the  Father  and  the  Son  —  ;s 
described  as  present  in  Christ — as  given  to  the  world  through 
Ilim,  and  especially  through  His  death— in  the  possession  ot 
those  who  by  faith  are  united  to  Him — and  is  eternal." 

To  the  Christian,  the  great  and  mighty  change  which 


162  THE  CREATOR  IN   ALL  THINGS. 

comes  in  death,  is  the  change  to  the  spiritual  body,  and  not 
any  change  in  the  endowment. 

This  eternal  life  will  then  be  eternal  life  in  the  body, 
eternal  life  in  the  soul,  and  eternal  life  in  the  spirit — and 
these  three  in  one  personality.  This  will  complete  and 
perfect  the  plan  of  our  being. 


CHAPTEE  IV. 

CONCLUSION. 

Tlie  Life  to  Come. 

In  the  first  chapter  we  examined  certain  points  of  prepa- 
ration, in  the  mental  structure,  for  Christian  doctrine — in 
the  second,  the  utter  lack,  in  some  particulars,  for  such 
doctrine — in  the  third,  we  have  noted  the  forms  of  truth, 
methods  of  placing,  and  the  facts  of  proving  in  experience, 
and  the  meaning  of  the  terms  life  and  death,  as  used  in  Holy 
Writ, — and  now,  in  this,  we  look  into  the  mental  and  bodily 
structure,  to  see  in  what  particulars  mind  and  body  are 
preparing  for  a  life  to  come. 

I.  Tlie  Resurrection.  The  preparation  for  this,  in  the  plan 
of  being,  is  indicated  in  the  fact  that  the  present  body  has 
been  made  dissoluble — constantly  changing,  so  as  to  be  ready 
at  any  moment  to  discontinue  its  work.  This  is  not  a  proof 
of  what  is  to  take  place,  but  shows  a  preparation  for  it  in 
putting  aside  the  old  for  the  new  state  of  things  which  we 
are  told  is  to  follow. 

There  is  a  touching  solemnity  in  the  terms  in  which  it  is 
stated — the  dead  in  Christ  shall  rise  first. 

Of  all  the  others  in  their  graves,  not  a  word  is  said.  The 
meeting  is  to  be  composed  only  of  those  who  are  found  in  Him 
at  that  day.  Nothing  is  said — not  even  a  mention  made — of 
those  who  are  not  in  Christ.  So,  also,  nothing  is  said  of  the 
organizations  and  instrumentalities  which  in  their  day  will 
have  been  so  important  in  bringing  the  great  multitude  into 
this  living  union  with  Him.  Churches,  and  ministries,  and 
teachings,  all  disappear  now.  Their  work  is  done,  and  there 
is  only  one  great  thought  before  the  assembling  multitudes,  aa 
(163) 


164  THE   CREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

they  come  up  from  their  graves,  and  but  one  event  going  on 
in  the  whole  Universe — the  coming  of  the  Master  to  meet 
•His  people  in  the  skies. 

The  call  of  the  archangel  is  for  those  who  are  in  Christ 
Jesus,  No  others  can  join  the  company.  Professions,  works, 
prayers,  ordinances,  emotional  excitements — these  are  not 
the  tests  now, — but  the  fact  of  being  one  with  Him.  Not 
asking,  but  finding, — not  ritual,  but  righteousness, — not 
theory,  but  reality, — not  creed,  but  character, — not  church- 
membership  only,  but  Christ-membership, — not  baptism  only, 
but  being  born  of  the  Spirit, — not  communion  and  fellowship 
with  one  congregation  only,  but  with  all  the  great  host  of  the 
redeemed. 

II.  !Z7ie  Judgment.  The  rational  endowment  not  only  looks 
for  a  judgment,  but  demands  it. 

1.  If  in  eternity  there  will  be  the  power— or  some  approxi- 
mation thereto — of  seeing  spiritual  being  in  its  substance,  it 
is  at  once  evident  that  only  those  who  have  a  likeness  in  their 
being — not  merely  in  their  constituent  elements  (for  those 
are  always  alike) — but  in  the  use  which  they  have  made  of 
them,  and  more  especially  in  those  moral  characteristics 
which  have  been  formed,  and  inwrought  in  them,  and  by 
them — only  such  could  dwell  together  in  peace  and  harmony 
there. 

Here  we  have  no  power  of  looking  deeply  into  each  other's 
souls,  and  of  seeing  the  character,  the  drift,  the  concealed 
purpose,  the  hidden  motives  of  action,  and  we  can,  therefore, 
manage,  for  a  few  years,  to  live  and  associate  with  very  dis- 
similar people, — but  there,  with  the  facts  all  open  to  the 
light,  we  can  see  at  once  there  will  need  to  be  a  separation. 
After  the  description  of  the  beautiful  city,  it  would  seem 
hardly  necessary  for  John  to  have  written— "And  there  shall 
in  nowise  enter  into  it  anything  that  defileth,  and  worketh 
abomination  and  falsehood," — for  those  who  see  themselves 
to  be  utterly  unlike,  will  have  no  desire  to  dwell  together. 

Whether  spiritual  being,  in  a  spiritual  body,  will  have  that 
power,  is  a  matter  of  inference  only,  from  the  words — "And 
they  shall  see  Ilis  face." 


THE   SPIUITUAI,   BODY.  169 

■would  need  to  be  from  something  other  than  itself,  and 
different  in  its  elements, — so  we  have,  in  the  body  of  tlesh 
and  blood,  precisely  such  an  arrangement,  and  such  a  uni<m 
of  body  and  soul.  Its  organs  for  perception  are  not  to 
reach  all  things  and  all  depths  of  space,  but  arc  limited  to 
objects  close  at  hand.  Its  system  of  supply  and  demacd — 
such  as  to  call  for  rest  and  interruption  to  the  otherwise 
incessant  activities  of  its  spiritual  tenant.  Except  from 
revelation,  we  might  suppose  that  at  death  this  restriction 
would  be  wholly  removed,  and  that  when  the  spirit  returns 
to  God  who  gave  it,  it  would  leturn  disembodied ;  but  Christ's 
testimony,  and  St.  Paul's,  reveals  the  fact  that  a  body  is  an 
inseparable  part  in  the  ultimate  plan  of  rational  life. 

Furthermore,  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God  in  a  body — even 
the  body  of  our  humiliation — is  a  wonderful  proof  that  great 
and  mighty  powers  can  be  placed  within  such  limits.  The 
distinct  announcement,  therefore,  of  a  spiritual  body,  is  con- 
clusive that  the  plan  of  being  is  not  a  plrxn  of  mind  alone,  or 
of  spirit  alone,  or  of  body  alone,  but  of  body,  so^d  a7id  spirit, 
in  one  personality. 

This,  so  far  from  invalidating  any  of  the  positions  taken 
in  "  The  Mental  Plan,"  clears  up,  in  part,  a  difficulty  which 
may  have  presented  itself  as  to  the  provision  for  children 
who  die  without  coming  up  into  an  experience.  This  pro- 
vision is  to  be  found  in  this — that  they  will  take  with  them 
all  the  faculties,  all  the  elements  or  constituents  in  their 
plan  of  being, — and  having  a  spiritual  body  prepared  for 
them,  they  will,  in  that,  come  up  into  an  experience,  very 
peculiar,  no  doubt,  and  wonderfully  unique,  but  still  a  very 
clear  and  distinct  experience,  in  a  course  of  joy  without 
sorrow^  and  a  training  without  chastisement,  somewhere  in 
the  many  mansions  in  the  heavenly  kingdom.  And  as  it 
would  have  been  if  they  had  had  an  experience  here,  so  there, 
the  receptive  and  the  emotional,  the  thinking,  and  reasoning, 
and  interpreting  powers,  will  find  abounding  materials  for 
their  busy  activities,  and  the  controlling  will  and  conscience 
be   forever   needed  to  shut  the  door  instantly  upon  the 


170  THE  CREATOR   IN  ALL   THINGS. 

wrong  thought  or  wrong  desire,  if,  by  any  possibility,  they 
ever  enter  there.  In  any  case,  the  experience  they  rise  into 
there,  although  so  wonderfully  different  from  ours,  will  be 
from  the  same  low  level  of  a  mere  capacity  to  receive,  giving 
them  all  the  elements  of  a  separate  personality,  in  the 
formation  of  which,  they,  also,  will  act  in  co-operation  with 
their  Creator  and  Redeemer. 

But  as  there  are  many  mansions  there,  and  as  they  are 
prepared  —  made  ready  and  adapted  to  those  who  are  to 
occupy  them — it  is  not  necessary  to  suppose  that  the  training 
and  experience  of  the  children  who  have  had  no  prior 
experience  here,  will  be  at  once  in  the  immediate  presence 
of  the  King. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  for  us,  also,  to  revise  our  conceptions 
of  the  spiritual  life  by  admitting  the  analogous  purposes  of  a 
body  in  that  kingdom. 

First  of  all,  and  entirely  separate  from  any  experience  of 
our  own,  and  so  great  and  overpowering  as  to  utterly  blot 
out,  for  a  time,  any  consciousness  or  memory  of  ever  having 
had  any  prior  experience,  will,  no  doubt,  be  the  great  imme- 
diate facts  of  that  kingdom,  and  the  medium  through  which 
these  facts  will  be  communicated  will  be  the  body. 

As  the  bodily  life  here,  like  the  endowment,  is  in  and  from 
the  Creator,  so  the  bodily  life  there  will  be  in  and  from 
Christ ;  and  this  life  (C"'?),  which  Christ  gives,  first  of  all,  to 
the  spiritual  body,  and  in  and  through  that,  reaches  the 
indwelling  soul  and  spirit — is  a  gift  from  Him,  and  this, 
below  and  prior  to  any  experience  of  ours,  and  separate  from 
any  conscious  mental  activity  there,  is,  in  and  of  itself,  an 
eternal  and  unchanging  state  of  pure  delight  and  joy. 

In  a  tropical  climate,  the  influences  of  sunlight,  air,  tem- 
perature, color,  form,  perfume,  find  their  way  to  the  soul 
and  spirit  through  the  body,  and  as  long  as  we  remain  in  the 
range  of  these  causes,  they  are  irresistible,  and  act  separate 
from  any  will  of  ours,  but  not  separate  from  the  will  of  Him 
who  created  them  for  these  purposes.  We  step  into  the  air 
and  the  sunlight,  and  get  the  benefit  instantly.    "We  are 


THE  NEW   SONG.  171 

recipients,  and  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  facts,  except  to 
thankfully  receive  them. 

In  like  manner  the  spiritual  body  receives  in  the  presence 
of  the  Creator,  and  gives  from  Him  to  the  indwelling  soul 
and  spirit — constantly,  continuously  and  forever — the  fullness 
of  joy. 

The  experience  that  pTepares — qualifies — capacitates  the  soul 
to  receive  "the  things  that  are  prepared,"  is  of  infinite 
moment,  but  it  is  the  things  prepared  that  make  the  joy. 

The  Christian's  reward  will  be  noticed  separately. 

V.  Tlie  JVew  Song.  What  [ireparation  is  there,  in  the 
mental  construction  for  the  worship  of  God  in  His  own 
dwelling-place  ? 

If  the  inconceivable  velocity  of  the  worlds  in  space  may  be 
typical  of  the  Creator's  ways,  one  of  the  great  surprises  in 
that  kingdom  will,  no  doubt,  be  the  wonderful  activity  every- 
where manifesting  itself— the  potency  of  spiritual  being  in  its 
freedom,  and  in  its  fidlness  and  completeness,  as  well  as  in  its 
beauty  and  glory,  in  the  presence  of  the  King  I 

"We  read  of  a  new  song,  and  of  the  multitudes  engaged  in 
it — the  ten  thousand  times  ten  thousand,  and  thousands  of 
thousands — and  so  we  may  inquire  what  will  be  the  needed 
preparation  on  our  part,  and  what  elements  or  faculties  of 
being,  if  we  are  to  be  in  that  company,  and  who  they  are 
who  will  make  up  the  company  who  are  to  sing  the  new 
song. 

Let  us  examine  it  with  reference  to  our  own  mental  con- 
struction. 

1.  The  inference  from  the  record  is,  that  the  powers  or 
faculties  called  for  will  be  precisely  what  we  now  have,  but 
the  call  will  be  for  all — and  all  in  unison — the  whole  spiritual 
being.  "Thou  shalt  love  the  Lord  thy  God  with  all  thy 
heart,  and  with  all  thy  soul,  and  with  all  thy  mind." 

This  presents  no  difficulty  to  those  who  are  renewed  in 
spirit — i.  e.,  it  is  not  an  impossibility,  and  is  seen  to  be  an 
entirely  reasonable  requirement.  In  point  of  fact,  where  the 
will  is  gained,  every  other  faculty  is  gained  with  it.    In  a 


172  THE   CREATOR  IN   ALL   THINGS. 

perfectly  harmonized  soul,  any  one  predominant  ruling- 
activity  carries  all  the  rest  with  it.  Spiritual  being,  as  we 
have  found  in  our  study  of  the  mental  plan,  is  not  a  bundle 
of  separate,  disconnected  powers.  It  is  a  unit — one  agent — 
but  with  these  manifold  and  diverse  methods  of  activity, 
which,  when  harmonized,  and  purified,  and  perfected,  make 
up  one  perfect  rationality. 

2.  We  can  now  see,  also,  more  clearly  that  no  new  faculty 
can  be  expected  in  another  life— for  in  the  renewed  nature, 
in  Christ,  there  will  be  no  room  or  place  for  anything 
additional  as  a  basis  of  being. 

It  follows,  also,  that  whatever  changes  are  needed  in  the 
nature  and  working  power  of  what  we  now  have,  must  be 
accomplished  here— for  when  we  go,  we  shall  take  with  us 
just  what  we  are  at  that  time — what  we  have  made  ourselves 
to  be — neither  more  nor  less, —  and,  on  the  other  shore, 
nothing  icill  he  added  or  taken  away. 

We  carry  our  destiny  with  us,  and  we  are  every  day 
making  up  the  record.  If  anything  is  certain,  it  is  that  it  is 
here — in  this  life — and  in  ail  this  tumult,  and  trial,  and  tribu- 
lation, that  we  are  fitting  ourselves  (if  at  all)  for  singing  the 
new  song  in  that  kingdom  and  glory. 

3.  The  fact  that  nothing  can  be  added  to  the  elements  of 
being— that  it  is  on  this  basis  only  that  we  can  build — is  one 
of  profound  significance, — more  especially  as  these  capacities 
we  have  are  principles  of  growth  and  development,  and  their 
right  or  wrong  development  marks  out  all  our  future. 

4.  Another  fact,  equally  significant  and  as  profoundly 
important,  is  that  we  are  permitted  to  assist  in  our  own 
construction.  From  the  earliest  moment  of  rational  con- 
sciousness, we  are  actors  (and  therefore  responsible  actors)  in 
the  maJce-iq)  of  our  own  being.  From  our  earliest  days,  our 
own  will,  and  our  own  activities — not  another's,  and  not  the 
Creator's,  but  ours, — mental  and  bodily,  have  been  constant 
working  factors — not  only  in  making  us  what  we  are,  but  in 
the  shaping,  forming, — almost  making — the  faculties  them- 
selves.   In  this  is  our  personality,  and  in  this,  as  we  have 


THK  NEW  SONG.  173 

stated,  is  our  responsibility,  and  both  these  facts  are  to  con- 
tinue and  go  on  with  us. 

5.  If  the  change  to  another  life  is  to  be  one  of  very  great 
enlargement  —  as  unquestionably  it  will  be — it  will  not  be 
from  any  change  there,  or  any  addition  in  the  elemental 
constituents  with  which  we  began — for  that  would  be  to 
change  the  plan  of  our  being — but  it  will  be  from  the  more 
perfect  instrumentalities  in  the  spiritual  body,  and  the  vast 
change  in  the  surroundings  in  the  spiritual  world. 

If  we  remember  that  our  capacities  are  (largely)  capacities 
to  receive — i.  e.,  to  grow  by  addition,  or  reception  from  things 
external, — to  increase  in  mental  power  and  in  spiritual  force 
from  our  intercourse  with  other  beings  of  the  same  order — 
where,  in  the  interplay  of  mind  with  mind  and  spirit  with 
spirit,  the  whole  being  is  enlarged,  and  our  horizon  extended 
indefinitely, — and  if  we  add  to  this  the  fact  that  there  are 
times,  even  now,  when,  for  a  short  period,  the  range  of  high 
spiritual  joy  is  felt  to  be  all  we  can  bear,  and  not  die  under 
it, — and  if  to  this  be  added  a  body  that  will  not  weary  or  tire 
in  its  activities,  we  may  safely  conclude  that  the  Christian's 
outfit,  in  Immanuel's  land,  will  be  perfect  and  complete,  for 
worthily  singing  the  new  song,  and  worthily  making  the 
ascriptions  unto  Him  who  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto 
the  Lamb,  forever ;  and  those  who  have  never  sung  before 
will  sing  then, — those  who  have  been  mourning  all  their 
days,  because  they  could  not  sing  with  the  people,  will 
suddenly  receive  the  gift,  and  join,  with  inexpressible  joy, 
in  the  new  song,  saying,  "  Thou  art  worthy,  for  Thou  hast 
redeemed  us  by  Thy  blood."  And  no  one  of  the  innumerable 
host  will  he  silent  there,  in  that  great  congregation. 

6.  In  answering  the  question.  Who  will  make  up  that 
company? — if  we  put  the  reply  in  one  simple  statement,  it  is, 
those  who  have  the  spirit  of  Christ. 

7.  But  there  is  an  important  fact  to  note  here,  in  our 
mental  structure. 

We  cannot  place  too  great  emphasis  on  the  distinctive  and 
orderly  arrangement  of  the  several   powers.    We   repeat, 


174  THK  CRKATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

therefore,  that  mind,  although  self-active,  is  chiefly  so  in  its 
working  faculties — the  will,  and  the  reason,  and  the  under- 
standing. The  emotions,  as  we  so  often  found,  are  not  self- 
active  in  that  sense,  and  are  not  faculties,  but  results  of  other 
mental  activities, — and  as  such,  they  are  almost  wholly 
involuntary,  and  are  always  preceded  by  some  adequate 
cause.  Ko  one  in  this  world,  or  in  any  other,  can,  at  will, 
call  up  an  emotion  of  any  kind,  without  first  calling  up,  or 
having  consciously  present,  that  which  produces  the  emotion. 
Now  the  emotions — the  spiritual  joy,  and  peace,  and  exalta- 
tion of  spirit — that  will  be  called  forth  in  Christian  hearts, 
in  singing  the  new  song  of  the  redeemed,  will  all  have  their 
adequate  and  only  source  in  the  realization  of  eternal  life,  and 
in  the  forgiveness  of  sins,  and  reconciliation  with  God,  their 
Creator  and  Kedeemer, — and  those  only  who  recognize,  in 
the  Lamb  that  was  slain,  the  fact  of  their  redemption  in 
Him,— those  only  who  have  entered  into  that  experience, 
either  here,  in  this  world,  or  those  to  whom  it  shall  first  be 
revealed,  at  the  moment  of  meeting  Ilim  in  that  kingdom, — 
only  such,  and  no  others,  can  join  in  that  song.  It  would  be 
quite  impossible  for  any  others  (of  our  race,  at  least)  to  join 
in  singing  the  song  of  the  redeemed. 

This  analysis  brings  the  matter  very  directly  home  to  all 
those  Mho  will  not  admit  that  they  need  any  redemption,  or 
that  it  is  found  only  in  the  Lamb  that  was  slain. 

8.  But  everywhere  in  the  world,  among  all  nations  and 
kindred,  and  people,  and  tongues,  "the  merciful  shall  obtain 
mercy,  and  those  who  hunger  and  thirst  after  righteousness 
shall  be  filled,  and  the  pure  in  heart  shall  see  God." 

"Xo  man  hath  (as  yet)  seen  God  at  any  time,"  and  if 
we  believe  that  when  His  people  shall  see  Him  face  to  face, 
there  will  come  to  them  a  revelation  (utterly  inconceivable 
now,  but  not  beyond  the  range  of  their  endowment)  which 
will  forever  draw  them  nearer  to  Him,  by  an  irresistible 
attraction,  so  also,  we  may  believe  that  there  will  be  an 
innumerable  host — thousands  and  thousands,  and  ten  times 
thousands — who  had  never  heard  of  a  Saviour  here  upon 


THE   INCAltMATIOJSf.  176 

earth,  to  whom  the  revelation  will ,  then  and  there,  he  the 
glad  tidings  of  great  joy,  drawing  them  instantly  to  their 
Saviour  and  Redeemer, — and  that  their  voices,  also,  will  join 
in  the  universal  ascription,  saying — "Thou  art  worthy,  lor 
Thou  wast  slain,  and  hast  redeemed  us  to  God  by  Thy  blood, 
out  of  every  kindred,  and  tongue,  and  people,  and  nation, — 
yea,  blessing,  and  honor,  and  glory,  and  power,  be  unto  Him 
that  sitteth  upon  the  throne,  and  unto  the  Lamb,  forever 
and  ever.    Amen." 

VI.  The  Incarnation  of  The  Son  of  God.  If  Christ  was  to 
appear  in  the  world,  it  was  essential  to  His  purposes  that  it 
should  be  in  a  body  that  could  sufEtr,  and  that  it  should  be 
composed  of  that  which  could  return  again  to  the  dust,  or  be 
transformed  to  that  which  is  permanent.  When  He  came, 
He  came  to  His  own.  He  formed  the  plan  of  being,  and 
when  He  appeared,  it  was  in  furtherance  of  the  plan.  When 
He  died  and  rose  again,  it  was  in  execution  of  the  plan  which 
He  formed  with  His  Father,  before  the  foundation  of  the 
world.    The  Creator  and  the  Redeemer. 

The  incarnation  is  the  greatest  of  all  mysteries,  until  it  is 
seen  as  the  explanation  of  all  mysteries.  For  in  the  plan  of 
being  it  is  evident  that  Christ  is  the  first  and  the  last — the 
Alpha  and  the  Omega.  "For  of  Him,  and  through  Him, 
and  unto  Him,  are  all  things." 

As  the  Creator,  in  creating,  associates  Himself  with 
humanity,  and  connects  Himself  therewith  in  an  eternal 
duration,  and^jontinues  forever  the  endowments  given  of  both 
body  and  soul,  so  Christ  renews  and  deepens  the  association 
and  connection  with  humanity  in  the  very  wonderful  way  of 
taking  the  very  nature  of  the  created  race,  and  becoming 
one  with  it  in  all  points  (separate  from  sin).  He  enters 
humanity  that  He  may  save,  and  is  willing  to  suffer  that 
He  may  save.  He  dies  upon  the  Cross,  that  in  Him  we  may 
live.    "  To  Him  be  the  glory,  forever  and  ever.    Amen." 

From  the  words  of  this  Wonderful  Being,  spoken  when  He 
was  here  upon  earth,we  have  the  revelation  of  the  plan  of  being 
in  its  larger  scope,  and  in  special  reference  to  the  life  to  come. 


176  TUK   CKEATOK   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

In  the  plau  of  ratLoutil  being,  as  thus  revealed,  there  are,  and 
have  been.  Three  Divine  Persons,  whose  constant  and  loving 
united  activities  are  carrying  on  the  plan  to  an  appointed 
fulfillment.  The  Creative  Power,  who  continually  sustains 
the  powers  given  in  all  rationalities,  and  the  force  mani- 
festations in  all  worlds,  and  the  life  agencies  in  ail  bodies, 
with  their  respective  laws  and  limitations, — The  Kedeeming 
Power,  who  unites  Himself  with  those  who  receive  Him, 
and  so  connects  His  own  being,  in  each  one,  with  that  sepa- 
rate personality  which  each  one  has  built  up  in  the  use  of  the 
endowment  given — having  first,  and  in  order  to  this  union, 
made  an  atonement  for  sin,  and  opened  the  kingdom  of  heaven 
to  all  believers — and  The  Sanctifying  Power,  The  Holy  Spirit, 
ever  present,  though  unseen,  in  the  hearts  of  His  people, — to 
teach  and  guide  them  into  all  the  truth, — and  these  Three 
Divine  Persons  are  acting  in  perfect  concert,  and  unity,  and 
power,  in  each  endowment  given ,  in  the  heartsand  consciences 
of  all  Christians  throughout  the  world. 

As  it  is  the  expressed  design  of  The  Father  that  all  His 
true  and  obedient  children  shall  be  gathered  into  one  house- 
hold in  the  heavens,  and  in  His  own  dwelling-place,  so  it  is 
the  wonderful  privilege  of  His  people  to  have  The  Father  and 
The  Son  abiding  with  them,  even  now,  in  the  body,  and  The 
Holy  Spirit  also,  to  bear  witness  of  their  prefeence.  The  only 
explanation  of  this  is,  that  a  mighty  v/ork  is  being  wrought 
in  them,  now  unseen,  that  they  may  be  fully  prepared  at  the 
time  appointed,  to  go  forward  into  the  kingdom  prepared  for 
them  from  the  foundation  of  the  world. 

As  the  rational  endowment  comes  direct  from  the  Creator, 
and  is  unchanging  in  its  spiritual  content,  it  became  possible 
for  Christ  to  take  the  same,  and  to  come  up  into  an  experience 
in  a  body  of  flesh  and  blood  (for  the  bodily  elements  do  not 
contain,  and  cannot  communicate,  sin — which  is  a  sequence 
of  personal  opposition  to  tlse  Creator) — and  so  to  live  a  pure 
life,  and  yet  be  wholly  man,  in  the  human  nature,  separate 
from  sin.  But  as  sin  is  personal,  and  has  its  origin  in  a 
person,  and  its  seat  in  the  will  of  that  persun,  and  its  penalty 


THE   IXCAUNATION.  177 

as  a  sequence  comes  to  the  personality  that  originated  it,  and 
as  this  is  wholly  in  th  it  field  of  separate  personality  which 
each  one  makes  for  himself — and  in  which  he  becomes,  of  his 
own  consent,  what  he  is,— so,  while  the  creating  work  of 
God  still  goes  on,  in  sustaining  the  endowment  given,  the 
redeeming  work  goes  on,  in  this  upper  field  of  separate 
human  individual  experience, — and  until  this  redeeming 
work  is  accepted  by  the  individual  personality,  its  benefit 
cannot  be  received.  Christ  enters,  and  takes  the  human 
nature,  and  suffers  in  it,  that  a  union  v/ith  Him  may  become 
possible,  and  by  His  death  and  His  resurrection  He  lifts, 
raises,  and  saves  forever,  all  who  come  into  that  union  with 
Himself.  "Without  me,"  He  saitl,  "ye  can  do  nothing," 
and,  "  Because  I  live,  ye  shall  live  also." 

But  this  union  with  Him  is  not  like  that  union  with  the 
Creator  which  we  have  in  the  endowment  given,  which  came 
to  us  without  our  being  a  party  in  the  matter — for  now,  as  a 
separate  personality,  having  a  will  of  our  own,  this  will  has 
to  take  part  in  the  transaction  of  coming  into  union  with  the 
Kedeemer,  and  until  we  do  this,  and  do  it  cheerfully,  and 
heartily,  and  joyfully,  Christ's  union  with  human  nature 
cannot  save  us. 

The  idea  of  a  universal,  unconditioned  salvation,  is  the 
wildest  of  absurdities.  There  is  not  the  shadow  of  a  shadow 
for  any  such  belief,  to  one  who  has  a  rational  conception  of 
the  plan  of  rational  being. 

The  being  saved  can  only  come  from  being  cleansed  from 
sin,  and  receiving  power  to  live  a  pure  life. 

If  the  rational  use  of  the  lower  factors  in  mind  cannot  be 
had,  except  in  an  activity  among  other  agencies,  through 
which  it  becomes — comes  into — a  rationality  of  its  own,  and 
is  personal  and  individual  to  itself,  so,  in  a  spiritual  experi- 
ence, it  cannot  receive,  or  understand,  or  get  the  benefit  of, 
spiritual  facts  and  truths,  except  as  it  does  so,  personally  and 
for  itself,  in  an  experience  of  its  own. 

In  eternity  the  union  of  God's  people  with  Himself  will  be 
two-fold.    First,  that  which  was  from  the  beginning  in  each 


178  THE   CREATUll   IN    ALL   THINGS. 

endowment,  direct  from  the  Creator,  and  must  still  continue, 
and  secondly,  that  more  intimate  union  with  God,  in  Christ, 
and  which  also  is  still  to  continue, — but  as  the  first  union 
takes  place  here  in  the  body,  now  received,  so  the  second 
must  also  take  place  here,  in  the  same  body,  in  the  time 
experience,  because  this  last  is  a  process  in  which  the  will 
must  act,  and  must  coincide.  This  being  accomplished,  the 
bond  of  union  with  the  Creator  becomes,  as  stated,  two-fold, 
in  those  separate  particulars. 

And  as  in  having  an  endowment  constantly  provided  for 
ourselves,  we  suffer  no  inconvenience  that  it  comes  as  a  gift, 
but  on  the  contrary,  have  the  larger  liberty  and  a  greater 
power  in  a  spontaneity  which  we  could  never  provide  for 
ourselves,  so  in  the  new  endowment,  in  Christ,  of  a  power  to 
live  an  upright  life,  we  also  do  not  find  it  less  our  own,  but 
find  also  in  this  a  freedom  unknown  before,  and  to  some 
extent  inconceivable,  until  found  in  Him. 

But  besides  all  this — which  secures  forever  the  eternal 
well-being  of  the  Christian— there  is  a  reward  for  His  ser- 
vants,— and  now  if  we  should  go  on  to  say  of  this  that  the 
reward  must  also  be  a  gift,  we  should  make  a  great  mistake, 
for  here  we  come  upon  our  own  premises. 

As  in  the  minds  of  many  Christians  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
confusion  as  to  where  the  Divine  agency  ceases,  and  where 
the  human  agency  comes  in,  or  even  whether  it  comes  in  at  all, 
it  may  help  us  simply  to  look  at  it  from  the  stand-point  of — 

Tlie  Order  of  Proceedings.  In  the  order  of  time,  and  in  the 
activity  as  it  begins  in  any  faculty'j'in  any  re-creating  change 
of  will  and  disposition,  God  is  first.  He  initiates  the  move- 
ment, but  in  all  that  is  personal  to  the  individual — bringing 
responsibility  with  it — the  created  will  moves  into  the  same 
activity  which  the  Creator  has  newly  formed,  accepts  it  as 
its  own  action,  and  acts  with  the  Creator.  In  this  sense 
there  is,  and  must  be,  a  co-operation,  in  which  the  action  of 
both  is  essential,  and  the  whole  purpose — the  very  aim  of  the 
work  of  The  Holy  Spirit— is  to  induce  this  unity  and  fellow- 
ship from  man  with  God  and  Christ. 


THE  UNITED  ACTIVITIES.  179 

We  shall  now  proceed  to  show  that  man  and  God  (except 
in  what  is  sinful)  are  always  acting  together. 

VII.  T7ie  United  Activities.  Man's  responsibility  is  only 
in  the  use  which  he  makes  of  the  powers  received  by  him, 
but  as  he  can  do  nothing  without  them,  it  follows  that  he 
can  never  act  separate  from  the  Creator.  So  that,  in  an 
intelligible  sense,  God  and  man  are  co-efficients  in  all  man's 
doings,  except  the  doing  of  that  which  is  evil. 

The  Creator,  therefore,  has  what  we  may  call  a  specially 
personal  interest  in  all  that  man  does  on  this  ground  of 
partnership  and  co-efficiency  with  him,  but  this  is  only  the 
beginning. 

Let  us  now  group  together  in  one  picture — gather  together 
in  one  comprehension — a  few  of  the  operations  which  the 
Creator  is  constantly  carrying  on,  precedent  and  subsequent 
to  man's  action,  and  concurrent  with,  and  consequent  upon 
it — between  and  in  which  operations,  his  little  individual 
activity,  connected  inseparably  with  the  Creator's  precedent, 
concurrent,  subsequent  and  consequent  action— revolves  and 
proceeds;  bearing  this  always  in  mind — that  when  man 
appears,  he  emerges,  always,  in  medias  res,  separate  from 
which,  he  could  not  come  up  into  being. 

We  find,  accordingly,  these  facts,  to  wit : 

1.  The  activities  of  both  the  creating  and  the  created 
rationalities  (in  reference  to  the  action  of  the  latter)  are  not, 
and  cannot  be,  separated,  but  are,  and  always  must  be,  united 
activities.  God's  action  might  be  separate,  but  is  not — for  it 
is  always  (as  far  as  we  know)  in  relation  to  His  people.  It  is 
all  for  His  own  pleasure,  but  His  pleasure  is  in  His  people. 

He  has  the  power,  and  might  create  —  somewhere  in  the 
depths  of  space — a  universe  unoccupied,  and  even  unknown 
to  any  rationality,  but  we  may  be  certain  He  has  not. 

Let  us  now  mass  together  some  of  the  particulars  of  what 
He  has  done,  and  is  still  doing,  for  man,  and  then  what  man 
himself  is  doing,  in  the  midst  of  these  arrangements,  where, 
as  we  have  said,  he  appears  (and  proceeds),  always,  in  medias 
res,  and  (we  may  add)  in  medias  personas. 


180  TlIK   CREATOR   IX   ALL    THINGS. 

The  Creator  precedes  and  prepares  his  present — and,  still 
surrounding  him,  precedes  and  prepares  his  future. 

There  is  so  much  done  for  him  before  he  appears,  and  so 
much  placed  in  him,  and  with  him,  and  before  him,  and 
round  about  him,  when  he  appears,  his  own  individual  part 
seems  as  nothing  in  comparison. 

2.  A  world  is  created  for  him,  and  sent  rolling  through  the 
deep, — a  body  is  prepared  for  him — itself  a  wonder  and  a 
mystery  of  power  and  beauty, — an  endowment  is  created  for 
him,  and  connected  with  its  bodily  life-organism — a  still 
greater  wonder  and  mystery  of  power  and  beauty, — a  multi- 
tude of  other  rationalities  are  created  for  him — not  merely  for 
his  benefit  socially,  but  of  positive  necessity,  seeing  that  there 
can  be  no  plan  of  one  for  one,  but  that  the  plan  must  be  one  for 
many  and  many  for  one, — the  Son  of  God  is  sent  down  from 
heaven  to  redeem,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  comes,  to  guide,  and 
teach  and  sanctify,  and  be  everywhere  invisibly  present  in 
the  hearts  of  His  people, — a  home  and  a  place  in  the  Father's 
house  is  made  ready,  and  then  when  there  are  gathered  there 
from  the  east  and  the  west,  and  from  the  north  and  the 
south,  those  Vv'ho  have  been  redeemed  by  the  blood  of  the 
Lamb,  the  great  eternity  is  still  before  them,  and  in  all 
that  eternity,  and  in  all  the  great  and  wonderful  trans- 
actions that  are  to  take  place  in  that  limitless  future,  still 
it  is  His  power  only  that  is  to  sustain.  His  favor  only  that 
is  to  give  joy.  His  providence  that  is  to  provide,  and  His 
will  that  is  to  hold  all  things  and  all  personalities  in  their 
continued  duration. 

David  might  very  well  ask,  "What  is  man,  that  Thou  art 
mindful  of  him  V" — for  in  the  greatness  and  vastness  of  all 
these  preparations,  man's  part  is  so  little,  so  out  of  proportion, 
that  he  seems  also  to  be  out  of  place,  and  that  he  never 
could  come  up  into  place  and  into  a  proportionate  harmony 
with  these  great  transactions, — but  inasmuch  as  all  these  vast 
preparations,  and  the  costly  Sacrifice,  and  the  patient  and 
loving  forbearance  of  the  Spirit,  have  been,  and  are,  for  him, 
we  must  look  somewhere  for  an  end  to  be  reached,  and 


THE   christian's   REWARD.  181 

results  attivined,  Vvhich  shall  be  adequate  thereto,  and  iu 
complete  fullness  of  proportion. 

And  now  tliis  is  to  be  found — not  at  all  in  the  short  term 
of  his  initial  preparatory  life,  nor  in  man  as  an  individual — 
but  as  one  of  the  great  host — the  countless  multitude— of  the 
redeemed,  the  great  congregation  (which  the  word  church  so 
imperfectly  gives  as  an  equivalent  of  the  EKKh/ma  rov  dsov) 
which  no  man  can  number,  of  all  nations,  and  peoples,  and 
kindred,  and  tongues, — and  the  great  eternity  before  them, — it 
is  in  these  conceptions,  the  countless  multitude  who  make 
up  the  company,  and  the  endless  duration  of  the  great 
future,  and  the  added  vision  and  realization  of  Christ  as  all 
and  in  all,  that  all  things  come  into  proportion, — and  here  at 
the  last  (and  which  is  the  only  proper  beginning  of  the 
rational  life),  the  precedents  and  tlie  results  are  united,  and 
the  wisdom  and  beauty  of  the  plan  of  our  being  begins  its 
perfect  manifestation. 

Ylir.  The  Christian'' s  Reioard.  We  close  our  discussions 
with  this  topic, — not  going  into  the  subject  of  penalty,  any 
further  than  to  point  out  that  both  the  reward  and  the 
penalty  are  found  in  the  same  law  of  sequence,  and  developed 
in  the  same  mental  construction  by  their  unchanging  and 
eternal  connections  in  spiritual  motive  and  emotional  result. 
Fixed  but  not  arbitrary.  Certain,  but  not  just  then  imposed 
or  created.    We  consider,  here,  only  the  reward. 

Among  the  last  words  in  the  Book  are  these  :  "  Behold  I 
come  quickly,  and  my  reward  is  with  me,  to  give  to  every 
man  according  as  his  work  is." 

The  word  rcicard  means  here,  suitable  compensation — that 
which  is  due— wages.  It  is  not  a  gift.  Being  is  a  gift.  Our 
endowment  is  a  gift.  The  help  of  the  Spirit  is  a  gift.  Eter- 
nal life  is  a  gift.  All  that  the  Saviour  has  done  and  is  doing^ 
for  us  is  a  free  gift, — but  the  proper  and  right  use  of  our 
endowment  and  privileges,  works  out  certain  definite  personal 
results,  and  in  these  is  a  reward.  It  is  His  to  give,  but  He 
has  so  arranged  it  that  it  shall  be,  and  is,  properly,  due. 
1.  What  is  it  to  be  ?    Not  gold  and  silver,  certainly.    Not 


182  THE   ClREATOR   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

commodities,  or  tbings  of  exchange.  Not  anything  external, 
as  houses  or  lands,  with  title-deeds  put  on  record, — and  not 
anything  transferable  to  another,  in  the  sense  of  parting  with 
it.  It  must  be  something,  however,  that  is  to  be  consciously 
received,  and  carried  on  into  eternity. 

2.  We  have  found  that  permanence  of  character  is  based 
upon  the  permanent  laws  of  being.  Is  not  the  reward,  also, 
of  all  right  conduct,  and  right  desires,  bound  up  in  the  act 
and  the  desire  ?  Is  it  not  structural — framed  in — and  just 
as  much  an  integral  part  of  the  action  now  as  it  will  be  in 
eternity  ?    AVe  think  so. 

In  the  plan  of  mind,  we  found  the  emotional  following,  not 
preceding, — and  expressing,  also,  the  quality  of  the  precedent 
act,  in  which  it  has  its  source.  The  basis  of  the  Christian 
doctrine  of  award — equivalent  return — for  both  that  which 
is  right  and  that  which  is  wrong,  tliat  which  is  good  and 
that  which  is  evil — has  been  clearly  seen,  already,  to  be,  as 
we  have  said,  structural  and  inalienable,  both  as  reward  and 
penalty,  and  the  removal  of  the  latter  is  provided,  for  all  who 
accept  it,  by  a  union  with  Christ  in  a  personal  experience.  If 
we  go  back  to  the  beginning,  we  find  there  that  the  Creator 
has  first  made  the  activity  of  being  to  be  pleasurable  in  itself. 
This  secures  action  and  its  perpetual  continuance.  As  in 
looking  for  the  manifestation  of  God's  love,  we  must  go  back 
into  eternity,  and  follow  out  the  plan  from  the  beginning, 
so  in  the  creation  of  man's  being,  we  find  the  beginning 
of  His  loving  providence,  in  making  being  itself,  and  the 
exercise  of  faculty,  to  be  enjoyable,  separate  from  anything 
prospective.  This  lies  first  at  the  foundation  of  all  the 
working  factors  in  man's  being.  To  this  is  added  the  com- 
pensation for  a  right  use  of  the  powers,  and  this,  also,  in 
accordance  with  the  same  loving  plan,  is  made  secure  and 
inherent,  so  that  with  the  righteous  act  comes  its  own  com- 
pensation. 

3.  In  this  way  the  reward  is  always  something  personal, 
in  a  sense  wholly  different  from  property  which  is  personal, 
and  which  can  be  transferred  or  given  away,  or  destroyed. 


THK   CHKISTIAN'S   REWARD.  183 

It  is  not  something  which  another  can  take  or  have,  except 
in  the  same  way,  and  in  a  certain  community  of  interest,  to 
be  hereafter  noliced; — nor  is  it  limited  by  any  time  arrange- 
ment, but  takes  its  own  permanent  place  in  the  constitueiit 
elements  of  being,  and  becomes  an  added  portion. 

This  is  a  matter  of  infinite  moment  to  every  one,  for  if  we 
know  nothing  about  it  now — if  we,  as  Christians,  do  not 
come  now  into  the  peace  of  God,  but  are  looking  for  Him  to 
give  it  to  us,  some  day,  in  some  incomprehensible  way, 
without  a  true  repentance — without  practical  faith — without 
a  life  of  purity — without  constant  applications  of  Christian 
precept  in  all  matters  of  eveiy-day  life — it  is  quite  certain  we 
shall  never  receive  it.  In  what  way  is  it  going  to  spring  up 
so  suddenly  and  without  cause  ?  The  kingdom  of  God  is 
within.  Heaven  does  not  create  it.  Heaven  is  a  place  pre- 
pared for  those  "  who  have  the  right  to  the  tree  of  life,  and  to 
enter  in,  through  the  gates,  into  the  city." 

4.  The  reward  is  to  be  as  the  work  is.  All  honest  labor 
should  have  its  reward,  here,  in  its  product,  and  in  the 
formation  of  a  basis  on  which  Christian  character  can  be 
built, — and,  to  the  Christian,  a  reward  of  mere  labor,  will, 
in  that  way,  be  undoubtedly  carried  along  into  the  next  life. 
This  comes  through  the  phj^sical  connection— the  body  and 
soul.  But  the  word  work  refers,  no  doubt,  chiefly  to  the 
work  done  through  the  connection  of  the  soul  with  the 
Creator,  and  still  more  especially,  with  the  Spirit  of  Christ. 
In  this — i.  e.,  Christian  work — the  reward  is  to  be  equivalent 
to  the  work,  and  according  to  the  work,  i..e.,  it  will  express 
the  fact  in  which  it  originated.  It  will  not  be  something 
detached  and  separate  from  the  work. 

While,  however,  we  may  and  must  discriminate  as  to  the 
nature  of  the  reward— for  it  will  declare  itself,  infallibly — 
we  are  not  to  discriminate  between  honest  labor  for  honest 
purposes,  and  Christian  labor  for  Christian  purposes,  in 
regard  to  the  abiding  character  of  their  inseparable  results. 
In  that  there  will  be  no  difference.  They  will  be  alike 
perpetual  and  eternal.    As  God's  nature  is  to  give,  and  to 


184  THE   CKEATOil   IN   ALL   THINGS. 

give  also  by  work,  in  a  constant  outflow  of  activities,  in- 
finitely vast  and  numberless,  so  He  has  formed  the  plan  of 
our  being  to  be  a  plan  of  work  for  ourselves  and  for  each 
other,  and  for  Him  through  each  other, — and  all  honest 
labor  finds  itself  properly  in  place  in  this  arrangement,  and 
its  reward  will  be  eternal  and  parallel  with  the  reward  of 
Christian  activity.  In  the  plan  of  rational  being,  everything 
counts,  and  nothing  is  lost,  or  forgotten,  or  overlaid,  or  put 
aside.    Cause  and  sequence  are  eternally  united. 

5.  But  there  will  be  wonderful  changes,  and  strange  trans 
formations.  The  sharp  trials  which  the  Christian  is  now  so 
glad  to  have  disappear,  (seeing  that  their  accumulated 
burden  would  be  more  than  the  spirit  could  bear)  will  then, 
in  that  Presence,  be  glorified, — and,  instead  of  being  so  glad 
to  forget  the  nights  of  watching  and  waiting,  the  hours  of 
pain  and  suffering,  the  unnamed  troubles  and  chastisements, 
the  dark  and  fearful  visions  of  sorrow  for  others,  the  name- 
less horror  that  sometimes  comes  upon  the  trembling  soul, — 
all  these  that  have  been  patiently  borne  will  then  be  trans- 
figured, and  will  put  on  perpetual  beauty  and  glory.  The 
Christian  will  not  desire,  then,  to  forget  them,  or  to  escape 
from  their  record.  The  love  of  God  is  specially  manifested  to 
us,  in  the  fact  that  now  we  can  and  do  forget,  that  we  are  so 
constructed  as  to  be  unable  to  carry  (consciously)  much  more 
than  the  present  facts  and  incidents  as  they  occur.  One  by 
one  we  can  bear  and  endure  the  burdens,  and  get  stronger 
for  others. 

Here,  again,  the  intermittent  feature  of  the  present  lifo 
appears,  and  the  contrast  with  that  which  is  to  be  constant 
and  perpetual,  is,  no  doubt,  one  of  the  things  of  which  it  is 
written,  that  eye  hath  not  seen,  or  ear  heard,  nor  have 
entered  into  the  heart  of  man,  the  things  which  God  hath 
prepared  for  them  that  love  Him, 

For  when  the  unsightly  things  have  been  removed,  the 
sins  blotted  out,  and  all  things  are  seen  to  have  worked 
together  for  good,  then,  instead  of  being  so  glad  to  forget, 
we  shall  be  glad  to  remember  all  things— and  the  greater  the 


THE   CHKISTIAX'S   KEM'ARB,  185 

capacity  then  developed  to  grasp  consciously  the  whole  life, 
the  greater  will  be  the  joy  and  delight  of  being.  That 
spiritual  being  will  have  that  power,  approximately,  at 
least,  when  separated  from  its  present  body,  there  is  no 
question.  That  it  should  not  have  it  now  is  equally  a  proof 
of  the  loving-kindness  of  the  Father,  in  the  plan  of  our  life. 

6.  "We  judge  then  that  the  nature  of  the  reward  is  seen 
here — what  it  is — but  not  the  extent  of  it,  nor  the  amount  of 
it,  nor  the  greatness  of  it.  Very  little  is  seen  now  of  the 
way  in  which  good  works  and  kind  acts  repeat  themselves, 
multiply  themselves,  and  so  go  out  with  blessings  to  great 
multitudes  of  people.  There  these  facts  will  be  seen  regis- 
tered in  innumerable  and  far-reaching  connections  and 
combinations,  and  all  the  redeemed  people  (in  any  one 
generation,  at  least),  will,  in  that  light,  be  found  to  be — and 
to  have  been,  all  along, — reciprocally  iinited,  not  onl}'  as 
"sharers  in  each  other's  joys,"  but  creators,  also,  and  the 
terms  indwelling  and  communion  will  there  be  realized  in 
their  literal  application. 

7.  The  highest  reward  still  remains  to  be  mentioned,  to  wit, 
the  privilege  of  admission  to  God's  presence,  and  the  words 
of  welcome,  "Well  done,  good  and  faithful  servant,  enter 
thou  into  the  joy  of  thy  Lord." 

The  joy  of  the  Christian  will  there  be  the  joy  of  the 
Master.  The  joy  of  recognition,  and  of  welcome,  and  of 
victory.  The  joy  of  meeting  Him,  "who,  for  the  joy  that 
was  set  before  Him,  endi;red  the  cross,  despising  the  shame." 
This  will  then  be  the  joy  of  the  Lord  and  the  joy  of  His 
people. 

More  than  fifty  years  ago,  down  in  old  Connecticut,  we 
used  to  sing  the  words,  (about  Christmas  time,  I  think)— 

"  When  we  reach  that  blissful  station, 
Then  we'll  give  Thee  nobler  praise ; 
And  we'll  sing,  HalleUijah  I    Amen, 
Hallelujah  to  God  and  the  Lamb !" 

Early  this  Christmas  morning,  on  waking  from  sleep,  and 
*•  while  it  was  yet  dark,"  there  came  floating  into  my  memory. 


186  THE   CKEATOK   IN    ALL,   THIKGS. 

very  clearly  with  inexpressible  tenderness  and  pathos,  the 
words  and  music  of  that  grand  old  hymn,  Venite  Adoremns 
("Oh,  come  and  let  us  worship "),  and  I  thought  how  well  it 
would  sound  inside  the  gates  of  pearl,  and  by  the  river  of  the 
water  of  life, — and  so  it  may  be  that  many  who  have  sung 
that  hymn  here  below,  are  singing  it  again,  to-day,  in  the 
city  of  our  God. 

"07»,  come,  let  us  adore  Him, 
Oh,  come,  let  us  adore  Him, 
Oh,  come,  let  us  adore  Him — 
Christ  the  Lord!'' 

Farewell,  my  brother!  Our  life  is  not  without  its  labor 
and  contests,  its  sins  and  sorrows,  strifes  and  fears,  but  those 
who  sow  in  tears  shall  reap  in  joy. 

Come  with  me  a  moment.  Let  us  go  up  to  the  portals  of 
heaven,  and  see  who  they  are  who  are  entering  there  to-day. 

Ah,  what  a  motley  company !  "What  a  set  of  castaways  do 
they  look  to  be !  The  lame,  the  maimed,  the  deaf,  the  halt 
and  the  blind,  the  bLroug  and  the  weak,  the  gray-haired  sire 
and  the  golden-haired  grandchild,  they  enter  here,  side  by 
side.  All  have  the  same  subdued  and  chastened,  and  glad, 
look — for  they  are  coming  home,  now,  forever,  to  go  no  more 
out !  They  have  come  from  all  nations  and  kindred,  and 
people  and  tongues.  They  come  not  with  ritual,  or  argu- 
ment, or  controversy.  They  come  as  those  who  have  escaped 
from  perils,  and  sufferings,  and  tribulations,  such  as  no 
tongue  can  tell !  Tears  are  in  their  eyes — but  they  are  the 
last  they  will  ever  shed.  A  slight  trace  of  fear  is  on  their 
countenances,  for  they  have  just  escaped  from  the  jaws  of 
death.  Bruised  with  trials  and  terrible  conflicts,  but  clothed , 
now,  with  an  almighty  power,  they  enter  together  the  gates 
of  the  city. 

Ah !  who  is  there  in  heaven  they  desire  to  see  ?  and  what 
can  these  poor  souls  do  in  the  palace  of  the  great  King  ? 

My  friends,  do  you  come  to  see  Abraham,  and  Isaac,  and 
Jacob  ?  Do  you  wish  to  see  the  martyrs  and  prophets  'i 
Shall  we  call  the  Apostles,  and  the  holy  men  of  old  r* 


THE   CHKlSTIAX'si   REWAKD.  187 

"We  listen,  for  their  eyes  are  cast  down  and  the  tears  fall 
■fast ;  but  they  say,  "  We  desire  to  see  Jesus."  With  these  words 
upon  their  lips,  they  enter  the  gates  of  the  city.  Standing 
here  upon  this  threshold,  where,  as  yet,  we  may  not  enter,  we 
look  within  their  faces,  as  one,  and  another,  and  another,  and 
another  pass  by ;  and  we  hear  them  say,  in  the  same  low, 
sweet  tone,  "  We  desire  to  see  Jesus.''^ 

Yea,  happy  souls,  ye  have  come  to  meet  the  Lord !  Fare 
je  well ! 


THK  END. 


